Global
Prostitution is not the “romanticized fantasy from the movie “Pretty Woman,” US Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft recently said after a federal grand jury in East St. Louis indicted two with operating five prostitution-front massage operations in Illinois and Indiana. It exploits and coerces women “into degrading subjugation” and violates the “rights of vulnerable victims across southern Illinois.”
Jianhong Hu Allbright of Indiana and Yalong Cao of a Chicago suburb face money laundering charges related to prostitution and other counts.
The fate of sex workers in Chicago has been grisly. Thirty-nine were killed during the 1990’s before they could avail themselves of the protection from street predators that online “dates” could sometimes afford. Key word, sometimes.
Sex workers in Chicago’s marginal neighborhoods were terrorized by four different mass murderers: Gregory Clepper—alleged to have confessed to killing 40 prostitutes—Geoffrey Griffin aka the Roseland Killer, Hubert Geralds and Andrew Crawford. Thanks to pimps and addictions, few women could stop working despite the lethal risks.
The House of Representatives has approved giving Israel an additional $1.3 billion in “emergency defense assistance” for its Iron Dome missile defense program, another installment of countless billions sent from the United States to intensify a one-sided war against the Palestinian people.
The Iron Dome system intercepts short range rockets (launched from 2.5 to 43 miles) through the joint work of the IDF, Israeli contractors, and U.S. weapons manufacturers like Raytheon. Radar batteries detect incoming missiles, calculate direction and threat level, and, if necessary, target the menacing projectile and speed interceptors to destroy it.
The Iron Dome destroys incoming rockets at high altitude, but, since its emplacement in 2011, the system has also functioned to enable Israel to conduct ethnic cleansing and perpetuate genocide with impunity in Gaza and the West Bank.
It has underwritten an astonishingly deadly campaign of collective punishment, with lengthy, targeted air, drone, and guided missile strikes in densely populated areas. These deadly attacks are carried out against a people who have no army, no shield, and no means of response.
Los Angeles is set to host the 2028 Olympic Games, with Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine serving as the venue for Olympic baseball. Transforming this iconic ballpark into a fully green-powered facility—and turning its vast parking lots into sources of clean energy—could position LA as a global showcase for a Solartopian future.
It would hugely further the massive green energy conversion that’ll define human survival.
AND…it’ll lower both the very high electric rates and soaring temperatures that threaten our city.
Here’s the bottom line: with currently available technology, solarizing Dodger Stadium could be done within three years, as canopy costs drop and electric rates rise.
Available battery back-ups can keep the park lit for night games. AND help meet the city’s prime time power needs.
Solar canopy technology is now widely used in both urban and agricultural settings (where it’s known as “agri-voltaic”) .
Numerous parking lots throughout the world are now being covered.
