US Politics 3

[poshrule_uk]

ITS A FIX, POLITICAL WITCH HUNT I TELLS YOU

[Qikz]

The latest flat earth theory is quite something




(The fact that I have no idea if they genuinely believe this or not says a lot about them...)

Even if we were just a pond on a giant ball we still wouldn't be flat

[Moggy]

The latest flat earth theory is quite something




(The fact that I have no idea if they genuinely believe this or not says a lot about them...)

Even if we were just a pond on a giant ball we still wouldn't be flat

That's not ice, it's the build up of the chemicals from the chemtrails.

[Moggy]

Remember the ship that crashed into the bridge in Baltimore?

The crew are still trapped on the boat. They are not allowed to leave because of visa issues, have had their phones taken from them and the authorities even blew up some of the bridge with the crew still in the ship!

As a controlled explosion rocked the Dali on Monday, nearly two dozen sailors remained on board, below deck in the massive ship's hull.

The simultaneous blasts sent pieces of Baltimore's once iconic Francis Scott Key Bridge into the dark waters of Maryland's Patapsco River, seven weeks after its collapse left six people on the bridge dead and the Dali marooned.

Authorities - and the crew - hope that the demolition will mark the beginning of the end of a long process that has left the 21 men on board trapped and cut off from the world, thousands of miles from their homes.
But for now, it remains unclear when they will be able to return home.

The crew, made up of 20 Indians and a Sri Lankan national, has been unable to disembark because of visa restrictions, a lack of required shore passes and parallel ongoing investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and FBI.

On Monday, the crew remained on board even as authorities used small explosive charges to deliberately "cut" an expanse of the bridge lying on the ship's bow.

Ahead of the controlled demolition, US Coast Guard Admiral Shannon Gilreath said that the crew would remain below deck with a fire crew at the ready.

"They're part of the ship. They are necessary to keep the ship staffed and operational," Adm Gilreath said.

"They're the best responders on board the ship themselves."

Among those who have been in touch with the crew is Joshua Messick, executive director of the Baltimore International Seafarers' Center, a non-profit organisation that works to protect the rights of mariners.

According to Mr Messick, the crew has been left largely without communication with the outside world for "a couple of weeks" after their mobile phones were confiscated by the FBI as part of the investigation.

"They can't do any online banking. They can't pay their bills at home. They don't have any of their data or anyone's contact information, so they're really isolated right now," Mr Messick said. "They just can't reach out to the folks they need to, or even look at pictures of their children before they go to sleep. It's really a sad situation."

The plight of the sailors also attracted the attention of the two unions representing them, the Singapore Maritime Officers' Union and the Singapore Organisation of Seamen.

In a joint statement on 11 May, the unions said that "morale has understandably dipped", driven by "unfounded fear of personal criminal liability" and emotional distress.

The statement also called for the "swift return" of the crews' phones, noting that losing communication with family members is "causing significant hardship for crew members with young children at home."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-69011124.amp

strawberry floating hell

[Skarjo]

Kafkaesque.

[Knoyleo]

Kafkaesque.

Absolutely. Sadly it's not uncommon for mariners when something goes wrong with their vessel or the business that operates it. OK, the controlled demolition bit is uncommon, but the being trapped aboard piece is. Because their expected turnaround time at most ports is probably 48 hours or less, there's very rarely any visa paperwork in place for crew. Especially when they'll still be operating the vessel in that time, there's no expectation that they'll be taking leave, so there's no need seen to clear them to enter another country.

There was a case here in the UK after the '08 financial crash, and one of the major shipping lines (name totally escapes me at the moment,) went into liquidation. A vessel of theirs on the water was due to dock at Felixstowe, but the port refused them, because they weren't going to get paid by anyone to work the vessel, so the ship sat at anchor for weeks while the administrators did their thing, and the whole crew were stranded aboard in the meantime. A local maritime charity had to organise runs of food and water out to the vessel to keep the crew going.

[Moggy]

I can sort of understand it if a ship engine breaks down and they are there for a week for repairs.

It's horrible to keep them there for 2 months, after a huge disaster. And then to set off explosives around them.

Anyway, it's at least given me an idea for the screenplay for a crossover of Captain Phillips with The Terminal. I just need to see if Tom Hanks is interested.

[Knoyleo]

I can sort of understand it if a ship engine breaks down and they are there for a week for repairs.

It's horrible to keep them there for 2 months, after a huge disaster. And then to set off explosives around them.

Anyway, it's at least given me an idea for the screenplay for a crossover of Captain Phillips with The Terminal. I just need to see if Tom Hanks is interested.

It is horrible. The consideration given to crews on some of the vessels is practically non existent. Especially as this vessel was running under charter, you can bet that there's been a lot of attempted buck passing between the two companies "responsible" for it.

[Memento Mori]

I can sort of understand it if a ship engine breaks down and they are there for a week for repairs.

It's horrible to keep them there for 2 months, after a huge disaster. And then to set off explosives around them.

Anyway, it's at least given me an idea for the screenplay for a crossover of Captain Phillips with The Terminal. I just need to see if Tom Hanks is interested.

I mean it's not like they were strapping C4 to the boat. Engineers inserted charges inside carefully selected sections of the bridge frame to separate it from the boat. They were unable to move the boat while the bridge was still on it.

[Moggy]

I can sort of understand it if a ship engine breaks down and they are there for a week for repairs.

It's horrible to keep them there for 2 months, after a huge disaster. And then to set off explosives around them.

Anyway, it's at least given me an idea for the screenplay for a crossover of Captain Phillips with The Terminal. I just need to see if Tom Hanks is interested.

I mean it's not like they were strapping C4 to the boat. Engineers inserted charges inside carefully selected sections of the bridge frame to separate it from the boat. They were unable to move the boat while the bridge was still on it.