A massive container ship adrift at 9 mph issued a “mayday” early Tuesday as it headed toward the iconic Francis Scott Key Bridge, losing power before colliding with one of the bridge’s support columns. As the vessel struck the bridge, it caused a din that could be heard ashore and immediately toppled an essential mid-Atlantic thoroughfare into the frigid waters.
Several cars were knocked into the Patapsco River and as of Tuesday around 11 a.m., authorities were searching for six construction workers who had been repairing potholes on the bridge. Two others were rescued — one who was briefly hospitalized and another who declined to go to a hospital. Extensive rescue efforts were ongoing.
Baltimore awoke to the tragedy: States of emergency declared by both the mayor and governor, search-and-rescue efforts for those missing, a bridge disappeared.
Before the collision, the ship’s crew notified authorities that the vessel had lost power. That “mayday” allowed Maryland Transportation Authority Police on the highway above to prevent many cars from driving onto the bridge just before the catastrophe.
“These people are heroes,” Gov. Wes Moore said in a morning news conference. “They saved lives last night.”
Moore added that there was no evidence that the collision was a terrorist attack.
Of course, there’s already wild speculation that it was a terrorist attack. Because the internet is a fucking cesspool sometimes.
It’s been a while since I posted a Monday Links post. So, I’ve got a bunch of Reason links from the beginning of the year that I’m just going to post here.
A couple of Florida stories that show the danger of single party rule – regardless of which political party rules the roost. Florida legislation would ban civilian police oversight boards. I could see reforming the boards to make sure they don’t get out of control, but do you really want a place like Broward not to have any oversight. Also, DeSantis wants to ban lab-grown meat. WTF? If customers want lab-grown meat, let them have buy lab-grown meat. It’s just as bad to ban the product than forcing it on everyone.
The ACLU is suing the Ronald McDonald House for not housing folks with assault convictions. Let’s see. We have a charity that is housing the families of children undergoing medical treatment. It’s already a stressful environment. I can see not wanting people with a history of violence in that environment. And I’ll still give money to the Ronald McDonald House Charities. They do good work.
There are some musical performances that seem to transcend time and place. The Tracey Chapman / Luke Combs duet from this year’s Grammy’s fits that bill. The simplicity, the emotion in the singers, the reaction of the audience. It reminds a person of the basic humanity in all of us.
Yesterday, country singer Toby Keith passed away at the young age of 62. Fuck cancer sideways.
This may come as a shock that I liked some of the country music from the late nineties through the early 2000’s. Toby was one of those whose brashness was kind of endearing to me. Here are my two favorites.
I’ve been feeling a bit in the doldrums in regards to posting. Part of it is stress with new job. Part of it is stress with the clowder. Part of it is just other things going on in my life.
The Reload has an article on the Supreme Court granting cert on the bump stock ban. I see this less of a gun case and more of a restricting administrative agencies from making people felons with a rule change.
Due to drama in the Ward household, I haven’t posted Monday links for a couple of weeks. So, this is mostly tab-clearing out some articles.
Let’s start with the normal Reason links.
Police keep harassing the wrong David Sosa. He sued and was joined by eleven other David Sosas. This falls into the police need to have more attention to detail and not just take the easy road. Particularly when it comes to detaining the wrong people.
Tennessee student makes Instagram posts poking fun at the principal and gets suspended. The student sues.
The NY Times’ Wirecutter section has an article on what you need for birding. I only add it to the links because the author neglected any dog treats. Which based on his history and his infamous viral moment, you’d think he would include.