CDTA Bus Stop #10595

The bus stop at Delaware and Cherry Avenue, near the Valero Station which offers a shelter and some landscaping. To this day, they have yet to fix the bus stop so it’s paved between the shelter and the road.

The Misguided Attacks on ACLU for Defending Neo-Nazis’ Free Speech Rights in Charlottesville

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The Misguided Attacks on ACLU for Defending Neo-Nazis’ Free Speech Rights in Charlottesville

"Last week, the ACLU sparked controversy when it announced that it was defending the free speech rights of “alt-right” activist Milo Yiannopoulos after the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority refused to allow ads for his book to be displayed on public transit. Lost in the debate was that other groups the ACLU was defending along with Yiannopoulos were also censored under the same rule: Carafem, which helps women access birth control and medical abortion; the animal rights group PETA; and the ACLU itself."

"For representing Yiannopoulos, the civil liberties group was widely accused of defending and enabling fascism. But the ACLU wasn’t “defending Yiannopoulos” as much as it was opposing a rule that allows state censorship of any controversial political messages the state wishes to suppress: a rule that is often applied to groups which are supported by many who attacked the ACLU here."

"The same formula was applied yesterday when people learned that the ACLU of Virginia had represented the white supremacist protesters in Charlottesville after city officials tried to ban the group from gathering in Emancipation Park where a statue of Robert E. Lee was to be removed (city officials tried to move the march to an isolated location one mile away)."

"One board member of the ACLU of Virginia, Waldo Jaquith, waited until the violence erupted to announce on Twitter that he was resigning in protest of the ACLU’s representation of the protesters — as though he was unaware when he joined the board that the ACLU has been representing the free speech rights of neo-Nazis and other white supremacist groups (along with communists, Muslims, war protesters, and the full spectrum of marginalized minorities and leftists) for many decades."

Fifty years after the Plymouth Mail Robbery

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Fifty years after the Plymouth Mail Robbery

"Historians don’t have all the answers about the Plymouth Mail Robbery that took place Tuesday, Aug. 14, 1962, a robbery that permanently relieved several Cape Cod banks of $1.5 million in cash. Fifty years ago, it made the news as the biggest cash heist ever – even more than the infamous Brinks Robbery of 1950."

"Six men are believed to have been involved in the Plymouth Mail Robbery, as well as several cars and machine guns. Masquerading as highway workers, the criminals waited near Exit 3, Clark Road, on Route 3 to see the mail truck appear on the horizon, bound for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. They waited for a signal from two other thieves, scoping out the highway from the Clark Road overpass. When signaled, the bogus highway workers let the truck pass, then flew into action, erecting a barricade of pilfered sawhorses across Route 3, forcing traffic off the highway at Exit 3 onto Clark Road. Meanwhile, up ahead, on a stretch of roadway completely obscured from south-bound traffic by a screen of trees, two cars blocked the highway and a cohort dressed as a police officer waved the mail truck over. When the truck came to a halt, the “officer” and other accomplices raced to the vehicle, machine guns in hand, disarmed the postal workers and forced them to open the truck."

August 14, 2017 9 AM Update

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Sixty five degrees this morning with some high haze that is expected to burn off and the mercury is expected to climb to 81 degrees by mid afternoon with relatively low humidity. The era of pre-eight o’clock sunsets is back, three weeks out from Labor Day Weekend. The Altamont fair starts tomorrow. 

The sun will set at 7:57 pm with dusk around 8:28 pm, which is one minute and 27 seconds earlier than yesterday. At sunset, look for partly cloudy conditions and 74 degrees. The dew point will be 60 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 54 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 31 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a slight chance of showers after 2am. Mostly cloudy, with a low of 61 degrees at 5am. One degree above normal. Maximum dew point of 60 at 7pm. South wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2016, we had mostly cloudy skies. It was humid. It got down to 66 degrees. The record low of 48 occurred back in 1964.

Back in 1962, two gunmen hijacked a mail truck in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and made off with $1.5 million in small denomination bills that were never recovered. The highly organized hijacking involved a fake road crew, a heavy truck to block traffic, and six theives armed with machine guns. That was a lot of money back in the day, now a days it would be hard to retire on. 

I am going to check the weather one more time for the Finger Lakes and will decide if I extend my weekend a few more days, so I can enjoy the eclipse down there. I would leave before dawn on Saturday and return late Wednesday. But my plans are still subject to change. 

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Labor Day when the sun will be setting at 7:23 pm with dusk at 7:52 pm. On that day in 2016, we had mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 80 and 54 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 77 degrees. We hit a record high of 97 back in 1929.