Nine Shift

Yes, they would have arrested and handcuffed him if he was white

The police got one thing right.  They got it wrong when they arrested and handcuffed a Muslim boy for bringing a clock to school.

But they were right when asked if they would have done the same thing if the boy was white - - yes, they said.  Yes, there is anti-Islamic sentiment in our country.  But more fundamentally, there is an anti-boy sentiment.  Yes, they would have handcuffed a white boy for the same thing.  Would they have handcuffed a girl for bringing a clock to school?  Of course not.  While boys are arrested and handcuffed every day in our schools, it's hard to find a girl in handcuffs.  

Government Hosting Science Fears

An apt Huffington Post cartoon called it a High School Science Fear.  

Combined with the recent fiasco where the FBI charged a university physics department chair of sending science secrets to China, it is clear that government officials are way over their heads in their lack of understanding about science.   

The government is arresting and putting children in handcuffs for science projects, and charging researchers with espionage for exchanging legal scientific documents.  Society needs a better approach here....

Foreign train companies look to invest in U.S.

"The United States and Canada are the only two industrialized nations in the world without high speed trains," train expert Dave Christianson told a gathering organized by NineShift last week. 

He noted that foreign train companies are looking to invest, and make big money, in high speed trains in the United States, the world's biggest economy.  

He pointed out that for-profit passenger trains are being run in Indiana, Virginia (I think), and are planned to begin service in Oklahoma next year between Tulsa and Oklahoma City.  A big higher speed train route from Miami to Orlando is being built by the private sector.  And the high speed T-bone train planned for Texas is to be run by the private sector. 

The day before Christianson's talk it was announced the Chinese rail agency form a partnership with a US company planning to build a high speed train from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.  

"Amtrak on its heels"

While 2015 is turning out to be a banner - - maybe tipping point - - year for trains, financial support from the federal government is just not there. 

Some 18 states are running trains without any federal help, train expert Dave Christianson told a train crowd last week.

"Amtrak is on its heels," he noted, referring to the lack of funding and Congressional support for the longstanding long-suffering folks who have kept passenger trains going for the last fifty years. 

Christianson pointed to the private sector as the new source of funding for trains, forming "private-public partnerships," a new buzzword emerging this year. 

The Four Events in 48 Hours That Made American History: #4

The fourth event took the breath away from many people. In the afternoon of the second historic day, June 26, President Obama delivered perhaps the greatest civil rights speech since M.L. King "I Have a Dream" in 1963.

My brilliant co-author is/was a civil rights leader, and she thought it so.  And, like many others, she was very pleased to see our President be black.  It was time.  

Unlike the other three events in 48 hours, it was not a celebration. In my view, the disappearance of the confederate flag is a symbolic victory, but we need a more substantive achievement for me to feel less scared about the safety of my foster grandchild and his father.  

But was an historic moment, and one in which President Obama did the nation proud. 

Usually history gets made slowly. There are not many days when one says history was made today. With the four events in 48 hours, one felt that history was being made at that moment. 

The Four Events in 48 Hours That Made American History: #3

We continue our commemoration of an historic two days when America moved - - not left - - but forward in the 21st century.  

#3 is the upholding of gay marriage across the land. 

What historically was most interesting about the commentary from gay rights activists on this was their universal attitude that this was not possible, probably wasn't even conceived of, just ten years earlier. "It happened so quickly" was on the lips of just about every gay activist.  Yes, it took 50 years from the 1969 enough-is-enough riot in New York City to get here. 

But as history happens, we have to keep in mind - - moving forward - - that change is very slow, and then it happens all at once.  Once again.

The Four Events in 48 Hours That Made American History: #2

The second historic event was the Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Healthcare Act. 

Even a few months later, there is almost no discussion any longer about repealing Obamacare. Even if Republicans won the White House and Congress, they would only amend, not dismiss it.  Healthcare is a right, a universal right, in this century. We predicted this was a "done deal" years ago. While the pundits re-instigated their warnings of new resistance, the resistance, if not dead, remains on life support.

The Four Events in 48 Hours That Made American History: #1

Event #1 in the 48 hours on June 25-26 that made American history.

The Fair Housing Act was upheld by the Supreme Court. It not only moving the country closer to integrated neighborhoods, but it dealt with the perplexing problem American society has ever faced: race.Two points:

1.The issue of racial integration in housing is hopefully one of the last century. As my brilliant co-author noted years ago, and Gary Goyke - - a new NineShift fan- - reiterated to me last month, Gen Y demands integrated neighborhoods.  

2.The Supreme Court noted that discrimination does not have to be intentional to be discrimination. This might very well apply to gender discrimination against boys in education in a future case. We shall see. 

Regardless of the future, the Supreme Court decision was a big victory for fair housing and helping us to get there.