Tootfinder

The California High Speed Rail (HSR) is getting ready to buy some trains!
Looks like they are likely to be of French - Alstom (AGV) or German - Siemens - design.
https://hsr.ca.gov/2024/04/11/news-rel

NEWS RELEASE: Authority Board of Directors Takes Next Step to Buy Nation’s First 220 mph Trains - California High Speed Rail
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The California High-Speed Rail Authority’s (Authority) Board of Directors is moving the project closer toward bringing electrified high-speed rail service to California by…

"Japan allocates 1.09 GW of storage in capacity auction"
#Japan #Energy #Batteries

Japan allocates 1.09 GW of storage in capacity auction
The Japanese authorities selected 30 battery storage projects in the procurement exercise. The selected developers and plant owners will be awarded a 20-year fixed revenue.

Back before the Reagan Revolution … a third of America had a good union job, our schools were brand-new and well supplied and staffed, college was free, healthcare was inexpensive, and the biggest challenge America had was to put a man on the moon and bring him safely home — there was little demand for a dictator in this country.
… For the majority of white Americans to adopt a strongman authoritarian, first the country had to be broken and broken badly.

Was the GOP Plan All Along to "Break" America to Make Room for an Authoritarian Strongman?
You have to break government pretty badly before people are willing to trade in a normal democracy for a dictatorship, but it’s sure happened before...

On Sept. 22, 2022, Venezuelan authorities spotted a hard-to-miss figure at Simón Bolívar International Airport, about to board a flight to Russia.
Leonard Glenn Francis,
known widely as “Fat Leonard,”
was 6-foot-3 and 350 pounds
—and was among Washington’s most wanted after escaping custody in California two weeks earlier.
The 57-year-old Malaysian felon was enormous, rich, and charming.
He was also at the center of one of the worst corruption and espion…

“Fat Leonard,” the Navy bribery scandal involving more than 60 admirals, explained
It involves fancy dinners, prostitutes, and lots of alcohol.

Seeds 🙈🙉🙊
Dramatized scifi mystery | When the first murderer in Silitra’s fifteen-year history is sentenced to hang, Alicia August, the town’s only journalist uncovers incongruencies in the case. In her search for answers, Alicia falls under the ire of authorities and must find the truth before they silenc...
https://www.the…

Seeds 🙈🙉🙊
Dramatized scifi mystery | When the first murderer in Silitra’s fifteen-year history is sentenced to hang, Alicia August, the town’s only journalist uncovers incongruencies in the case. In her search for answers, Alicia falls under the ire of authorities and must find the truth before they silence her for good. 1 seasons, 8 episodes as of Sep 15, 2022.

Reporters Without Borders says Hong Kong authorities detained and deported a Taiwan-based RSF advocacy officer who had planned to cover the Jimmy Lai trial (Jessica Jerreat/Voice of America)
https://www.voanews.com/a/hong-kong-expels

Hong Kong expels advocate who planned to monitor Jimmy Lai trial
Reporters Without Borders says authorities questioned and then expelled the advocate who was in Hong Kong to monitor publisher’s court case

"Russia is building an ‘axis of the anti-West'" by Galeotti.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/c5c09c9c-af44-4836-a8b8-c31456e63ed4?shareToken=848332e8bb1da4da0582a7726607149d

Russia is building an ‘axis of the anti-West’
From missiles to ski trips, Putin and his authoritarian allies are moving ever closer to reshape the world order, the historian and Russia expert writes

'He has been able to play the victim very successfully, and it makes his followers feel protective of him. Anything that happens to him is just confirmation of this belief that he is a victim being persecuted. #Jan6 was an attempt to save a distressed leader, & people rallied, & so this is a continuation of that. That ideology of saving the leader from an unjust fate.'
Trump'…

Trump's behavior that 'doesn't get enough attention' exposed by authoritarianism scholar
Donald Trump lies about his prior failed election campaign, but that isn't the only reason he has been so successful, according to one authoritarianism expert. New York University history professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat appeared on MSNBC's Ayman on Saturday, where she was asked how Trump is polling alo...

The conservative justices appear to #selectively #apply the legal methodology known as #originalism, which focuses on the original meaning of the law at the time it was written.
The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majori…

After Trump ballot ruling, critics say Supreme Court is selectively invoking conservative originalist approach
WASHINGTON — Two years ago, conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch excoriated his conservative colleagues for ignoring history and the original understanding of the law in ruling for Oklahoma in a dispute over Native American tribal authority.