Tuesday, January 26th, 2016
Richard Martin, - MIT Technology Review
Stephan: An alarm is ringing in another sector of our aging infrastructure -- beware of a coming crisis. The failure of both corporations and the government to maintain infrastructure, largely as a result of the drive by Republicans to make government "smaller" and corporations less subject to oversight is about to bear bitter fruit. As with Flint, Michigan or the substandard oil trains that keep exploding, incompetence, stupidity, and bias on the part of conservatives has left America in a deeply compromised situation.
A woman holds a sign while attending a public hearing on January 16 regarding the massive natural-gas leak near Porter Ranch, California.
Since it was first detected on October 23, 2015, the natural-gas leak at Aliso Canyon, a Southern California Gas Co. storage facility in the bucolic Porter Ranch community, has spewed more than 86,000 metric tons of methane into the atmosphere. On Monday So Cal Gas said it has abandoned a plan to capture and burn off the gas, which is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. That means a solution to the disaster is still weeks, if not months, off. (This long feature on Newsweek.com explores in detail the background of the leak.)
The Porter Ranch accident highlights a growing problem in the U.S.: as natural gas replaces coal as a key energy source, the dangers of leaks and explosions from aging pipelines and storage facilities […]
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Tuesday, January 26th, 2016
Bethania Palma Markus, - Alternet (U.S.)
Stephan: This and the three stories after it I am running to demonstrate what I see almost every day -- needless death and wounds from gunfire amongst ordinary citizens. I wanted to bring some humanity to the gun deaths of the 92 people who die each day in America because of guns. No other developed nation in the world has stories like these, and we barely discuss them.
Marvin Jacob
North Carolina man is in custody after being accused of executing a Good Samaritan who tried to help him after spinning out in his car during the massive East Coast blizzard, the Charlotte Observer reports.
Marvin Jacob Lee, 27, was driving on Friday night when his car skid out due to weather conditions. Three men in a passing truck got out to help him, as did some neighbors in the area. But Lee began acting erratic and belligerent, prompting the Good Samaritans to back off and call police.
“They thought he was drunk or on dope and said ‘let’s just call the law and let them deal with it,’” Catawba County Sheriff Coy Reid said.
But as they tried calling authorities, Lee allegedly took out an automatic pistol and began shooting at them.
The people who had been trying to help Lee started running away from the gunfire, but one man was struck and fell. The victim, identified by authorities as Jefferson Heavner, 26, was on the ground when Lee stood over him and shot him […]
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Tuesday, January 26th, 2016
WESLEY MULLER, - Sun-Herald (Mississippi)
Stephan: What could possibly go wrong by having an armed populace? This is a story of stupidity and poor anger management that ended with two dead and two seriously wounded. I don't know why anyone is surprised by situations such as this given Mississippi gun laws.
Note: Authorities have released the names of all four people involved in a shooting at the gun store. To read the updated story, click here.
Pearl River County deputies who responded to a report of a shooting at this gun shop on Mississippi 43 found the store owner and his son dead in the store. Two customers, also a father and son, were shot and wounded.
Credit: Jeremy Pittari
PICAYUNE, MISSISSIPPI — A father and son were killed in a shootout with another man and his son at a gun store Saturday in Pearl River County’s Henleyfield community.
Pearl River County deputies responding to the shooting on Mississippi 43 about 3:15 p.m. found the store owner and his son dead in the store, Chief Deputy Shane Tucker […]
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Tuesday, January 26th, 2016
Allegra Kirkland, - Talking Points Memo
Stephan: In what other country in the developed world is going to a movie potentially a life endangering activity?
Regal Cinemas, site of shooting
A man arrested for accidentally shooting a woman at a Washington state movie theater on Friday reportedly told police that he was armed because he feared mass shootings.
In a statement to police quoted by The Seattle Times, 29-year-old Dane Gallion said he brought a firearm to a screening of Michael Bay’s “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” in Renton because he was “concerned about recent mass shootings in public places.” Gallion said in the statement that he wore the gun unholstered in his waistband for the same reason.
Gallion’s firearm discharged during the film, striking a 40-year-old woman sitting in front of him in the shoulder. She was sent to a nearby hospital and was in stable condition as of Saturday.
The Seattle Times reported that Gallion’s explanations for how exactly the gun went off varied significantly. His father, Donald Gallion, told police that his son said the gun had fallen from his pocket and gone off. But Gallion himself told the arresting […]
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Tuesday, January 26th, 2016
Matthew Nadler, - The Manomet Current
Stephan: An angry man in a snow storm with a gun. This is what having an armed citizenry produces.
Bruce O’Brien
Police have made an arrest in connection with a shooting incident that occurred Saturday night during the snow storm.
According to Captain John Rogers, Bruce O’Brien, 60, of Whitman was driving behind a snow plow truck at about 7 p.m. near the north end of Rocky Hill Road. He then, Rogers said, passed the truck and allegedly fired three rounds into the air from a handgun. The snow plow driver, who Rogers said works for a private contractor, reported the gunshots and followed O’Brien to the area of Rocky Hill Road and Powerhouse Road where police caught up with him.
O’Brien has been charged with firing a gun within 500 feet of a building, carrying a firearm while under the influence of liquor or drugs, disorderly conduct and assault with a dangerous weapon.
He was not charged with drunk driving because his level of intoxication did not rise to the legal level, Rogers said.
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