Pro-Palestine/anti-American July 4th protest | NC Dems' drag brunch fundraiser | Groundbreaking on "Biden" infrastructure projects | Record temperature recorded at RDU - explanation?

No. 79 — Jun. 30-Jul. 6, 2024

NC Democrats hold "Drag Brunch" fundraiser

The North Carolina Democratic Party closed out their "Pride Month" celebrations with a "Drag Brunch" fundraiser at their Raleigh headquarters on Sunday.

It's not clear whether any minors were present at the event; 3rd vice chair of the NC Dems and co-organizer of the fundraiser Elijah King reportedly blocked the Gays Against Groomers North Carolina account on Twitter/X for asking this very question.

As King said in a statement about the event, the Democrat Party is in lockstep with everything the alphabet mafia stands for:

As #pride Month wraps up, here's a reminder:

Pride isn't just a month—it's a movement. Our love is stronger than their hate, our voices are louder than their ignorance. We won't be silenced or back down.

And To the bigots and Republicans trying to drag us back: Love always wins pic.twitter.com/wBDYeBLYvb

— Elijah King (@ElijahKingNC) June 30, 2024

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Democrats visit Raleigh and Durham to tout infrastructure spending

Governor Cooper Joins US Department of Transportation Secretary Buttigieg in Winston-Salem, Greensboro and Durham to Tour Construction Projects and Transportation Investments - Press Release

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Delivers Remarks at Groundbreaking in North Carolina for New Passenger Rail Route Connecting Raleigh and Richmond - Transcript

Buttigieg touts infrastructure funding in Durham - State Affairs

Residents: Durham must address housing, other needs as it improves Holloway Street - N&O

Buttigieg, Cooper break ground on new Raleigh-to-Richmond high speed rail line - NC Newsline

Buttigieg, Cooper break ground on $1 billion direct rail connecting Triangle to Richmond, Virginia - WRAL

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited Raleigh and Durham on Monday to highlight federal infrastructure spending for the first stops on a national "summer of construction" tour (aka thinly disguised Democratic campaign events).

As quoted by State Affairs, Governor Roy Cooper highlighted the "investment" as he toured with Buttigieg:

 “North Carolina has gotten a large part of this pie,” Cooper said. “So we’re glad to have Secretary Buttigieg here to just review some of the projects all across our state that are really going to help improve transportation.”

I'm sure it's totally coincidental that North Carolina is a swing state. Though it may work to the benefit of some North Carolinians in this case, I'm not fond of the idea of the party in power attempting to buy my vote with my own tax dollars (or even worse, with the hidden tax of inflation or the future cost of debt).

In Raleigh, Buttigieg and Cooper broke ground on the Durant Rail Grade Separation project. If that name sounds rather boring, it's probably because it is; the railroad running from Raleigh to Wake Forest is being moved underground at the Durant Road crossing as part of a $1.1 billion grant to upgrade this ~16 mile stretch of track to accommodate high speed rail. If you think that's a big number, it's only the first stage of a planned Raleigh-Richmond corridor.

In Durham, Buttigieg touted a much more mild $12 million in federal funding for the Holloway Street Corridor, which aims to "improve pedestrian safety" on the city's busiest transit route, including "increased pedestrian facilities, enhanced transit infrastructure, and safer access from intersecting streets".

• $1.1 billion allocated for Raleigh to Wake Forest high-speed rail (No. 50 — Dec. 16, 2023)

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"Free Palestine" protest at 4th of July fireworks display in Raleigh

Dozens of pro-Palestine/anti-Israel/anti-American demonstrators gathered at Dorthea Dix on Thursday to let the celebrants gathered for the city's annual 4th of July fireworks display know that "there is no celebration until liberation" and that "like Israel, the United States is a settler colonial state, build on land stolen from indigenous populations", according to the events organizers.

ydsancsu

A post shared by @ydsancsu

The promotional material for the demonstration also targeted one of the event's sponsors, Gergory Poole Equipment Company over the fact that they are the exclusive dealer of Cat construction equipment in North Carolina; the organizers take issue with the use of Cat equipment in Israel.

I can't find any reporting or media of the event other than by someone who is apparently involved in the organization, Shadi Al-Refai (video, video, video, slideshow, video).

Other pro-Palestine demonstrators also held anti-American demonstrations in other cities across the country, including New York City, where they set American flags on fire, and Philadelphia, where six were arrested after the protest "'[escalated]' beyond a peaceful demonstration," according to police.

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We're all going to die? RDU weather station records record temperature

A day after RDU weather station sets heat records, ‘excessive heat’ again in forecast - N&O

The weather station at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport recorded a temperature of 106° at 1:37 pm on Friday, beating the previous station record of 105° in 1999.

However, before you panic about global warming and move to Alaska, I would in fact expect temperature measurements at the RDU airport to, on average, be slowly increasing. This is due to a what I consider to be a systemic problem with temperature measurement stations in America: development and the heat island effect.

Basically, more pavement and structures plus less vegetation equals slightly higher temperatures, leading urban areas to be up to experience 1–7°F higher daytime temperatures than surrounding rural areas (according to the EPA).

In 1945 when the weather station at RDU began taking temperature measurements, the surrounding area was much less developed. The closest municipality to the airport, Morrisville, was barely a crossroads with several hundred residents; Cary, now the 7th largest city in North Carolina, had a population of less than two thousand; Raleigh had 1/7 of it's current population, and Durham, which was larger at the time, had 1/5.

The massive population growth in this time period has, naturally, been accompanied by extensive development in the area around the airport. Some of the closest development, in the Brier Creek area, has been in the last few decades.

If this didn't result in a slight rise in the average temperature, I'd be a little surprised.