#Khirfan

[noknowledgecreativity]

I just want to write about green and blue infrastructures (GBIs) that need to address climate change on people and buildings that is people’s needs that needed protection from flooding where the authors studied Toronto, Canada. With so much devastating floods in Europe that happened few weeks ago, there need to be more examination of what is flood prone and how to mitigate problems with GBIs. There needs to be more to examine the problems that can affect the people and parts of cities and cannot ignore the effect of climate change any longer and climate injustice is real. Please, we need to stop climate change effecting everyone with flooding and spend money on GBIs and helping those with needs with good management and fairness. #climatechange #greeninfrastructure #blueinfrastructure #floodineurope #urbanplanning #urbandesign #infrastructure #lunakhirfan #niloofarmohtat Bibliography Mohtat, N., & Khirfan, L. (2021, February). Distributive justice and urban form adaptation to flood risks: a GIS-based study for the identification of priority areas for the just allocation of GBIS in Toronto. In ISUF 2020 Virtual Conference Proceedings (Vol. 1). https://www.instagram.com/p/CRzhzX5riTo/?utm_medium=tumblr

#climatechange #greeninfrastructure #blueinfrastructure #floodineurope #urbanplanning #urbandesign #infrastructure #lunakhirfan #niloofarmohtat

[fullspectrum-cbd-oil]

As GM Workers Picket, Michigan’s Economy Feels the Chill

Waving a placard on the picket line outside a General Motors Co <GM.N> truck plant in Flint, Michigan, Robert Bacon says he has no money to spend. His $250-a-week strike pay barely covers his food and gas.

Up the road, bartender Jeanne Bonner made just $2 in tips one day last week, compared with $80 during a normal shift.

“We’ve thrived off GM for years,” Bonner said. “When they are not working it hurts everybody around here.”

Convenience store owner Brad Khirfan says he has lost two-thirds of his business since GM workers walked off the job last month, triggering the longest nationwide U.S. auto strike in nearly 30 years.

Khirfan, who has run his shop next to the GM truck plant for 32 years, said the strike could have political repercussions.

“I take the pulse of the workers here. A lot of them feel abandoned by (U.S. President Donald) Trump,” he said. “He promised manufacturing jobs would come back, and it’s not happened.”

The United Auto Workers union strike is spreading pain throughout Michigan, a battleground for the November 2020 election where the economy was slowing before more than 23,000 UAW workers walked out of GM’s Michigan plants in mid-September. The total number of UAW strikers nationwide is 48,000.

Unemployment in the state is 4.2%, and it has been rising even as the national rate continues to fall. The state’s job growth has slowed dramatically, said Chris Douglas, an economist at the University of Michigan-Flint. The strike has cost a total of $228 million in lost wages in the state between Sept. 16 and Oct. 6, according to the East Lansing, Michigan-based Anderson Economic Group.

The health of Michigan’s economy matters to rivals in the 2020 U.S. presidential race.

Trump, a Republican, carried Michigan by less than 11,000 votes in 2016, an unexpected victory that along with wins in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin propelled his ascent to the White House. Trump’s tough stance on trade and his promises to win back manufacturing jobs resonated with many UAW members.

Some of Trump’s Democratic rivals have tried to use the GM strike to win back UAW votes. They have joined GM strikers on picket lines and echoed their calls for GM to share profit more fairly and invest more in U.S. plants.

A HISTORY OF CONFLICT

Flint, a city of about 100,000 people located 70 miles (113 km) northwest of Detroit, has a long history of labor conflict. In 1936, workers at a GM factory here staged a sit-down strike that forced the automaker to recognize the United Auto Workers union, a milestone in U.S. labor relations.

Some workers picketing outside GM’s Flint truck this week remembered the UAW’s 1998 strike against GM parts-making plants in Flint that lasted 54 days and cost the company $2 billion. In the years following that bitter clash, GM sold or closed several of its Flint operations, shedding thousands of UAW jobs and battering the city’s economy.

Today, Flint is one of the most impoverished cities in America. Nearly 40% of the city’s residents live below the poverty line, according to U.S. Census data published in 2018. Flint suffered a prolonged water crisis that began in 2014, when it emerged that lead had leeched into its water supply, exposing many residents to elevated lead levels.

The sprawling GM truck assembly plant offered hope for better times. The new heavy-duty pickup trucks assembled at the plant are highly profitable, and GM President Mark Reuss earlier this year traveled to Flint to say the plant would hire 1,000 additional workers to build them.

The strike halted production just as the truck plant was ramping up to deliver vehicles to dealers.

DOUGHNUTS AND $250 A WEEK

Instead of earning overtime pay, GM truck plant workers are getting by on $250 a week in UAW strike pay.

On the picket line, strikers acknowledged the frequent horn blasts from passing drivers honking in solidarity. One truck driver arrived with free doughnuts for the strikers, while another group set up an impromptu hot dog stand.

Russ Van Buren, 47, a striking worker outside the Flint plant, describes himself as a political independent. He has not decided whom he will vote for next year, but said if the Michigan economy turns worse, Trump will be in trouble.

“If our economy goes down the toilet, people will desert Trump,” Van Buren said. A third of UAW workers backed Trump in 2016, the union has said. “People are going to look for another person to run this country,” Van Buren said.

Standing nearby, Jeremy Henman, 32, a striking forklift driver, said he likes Trump’s idea of a border wall and his support of gun owners, and thinks the economy is doing great.

“I’m thrilled with what he’s done,” Henman said. “I’m definitely voting for him again.”

(Reporting by Tim Reid in Flint, Mich.; Editing by Joseph White and Matthew Lewis)

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#IFTTT #IJR

[joshuaferris]

We woke up on the Dead Sea and drove to the ancient Roman city of Jerash.  Jerash had not originally, been on our itinerary, but we decided to sacrifice time in Amman to see it.   I am very glad we did.

I really enjoyed the guide we hired from the site office.   He had been leading tours in Jerash since the 70s. He was old and nimble, he almost floated through the ruins.  He carried a stick to point at things and there was soothing percussive nature to the way it tapped the cobblestone as he moved.   He was a delight.

The ruins of Jerash are the best-preserved Roman ruins outside of Italy.  The forum and theater are incredibly impressive.  The acoustics of the theater are fantastic.  You can be speaking outside the center of the theater, step into the center, and instantly hear your voice fill the space. It’s wildly impressive. The forum and the cardo are lined with columns which give the entire site an impressive and imperial look.   The structures of Baalbeck are more grandiose, but as a whole site, Jerash is phenomenal.

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Photo Credits: Samer Badr, Spencer Mcgee, Josh Ferris

We were famished and did not think an hour drive back to Amman was a great idea while we were hungry and tired.   We walked across the street and found an air-conditioned fast food joint called Cheesy Grill.  It was comically bad.   The first sandwich we ordered was unavailable, so they made these chicken, American cheese, sweet mayo monstrosities.   Megan’s verbal review was “this is disgusting.” We named these sandwiches cheesy blasters after the 30 Rock joke, filled up on fries, some Syrian sweets from the neighboring shop and got back to the car.

Our Airbnb was on Khirfan Street and was very nice.  It was right in the center of a pretty hip neighborhood.  After we settled and showered, we treated ourselves to a drink at Books at Cafe.   This bar/cafe is the first overtly queer-friendly place I saw in Jordan.  It was nice to walk into a place with “Equality Matters” slogans littered about. We shared a Jordanian Rose wine, that would have been better if it had been served chilled.

We ended the night with a traditional Jordanian meal at Sufra. The quality of food on this day of the trip really ran the gamut.   This food was delicious.  We sat in an outdoor courtyard in the back of an old house.   There was a fountain at the center and it was lined with lots of plants.   It was a fantastic scene.   I do not remember everything that we ordered, but Hayan and Samer figured it out for us.   This was the first time we had the famous Jordanian meal of mansaf.    Mansaf is meat, rice, and yogurt sauce.   It’s not bad, but nothing I’d seek out in the future.

At the end of the meal, our group split up.  We said good-bye to Megan and Hayan, and we went back to go to bed.   I fell asleep instantly, but Holly F., Samer, and Spencer enjoyed the balcony overlooking Amman.

Next –

Jordan – Day 6: Jerash & Amman We woke up on the Dead Sea and drove to the ancient Roman city of Jerash.  Jerash had not originally, been on our itinerary, but we decided to sacrifice time in Amman to see it.   

#Jordan #Middle East #traveling