Peter Norton
@norton.bsky.social
13K followers 720 following 1.7K posts
Historian; author of Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City, and of Autonorama: The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving.
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norton.bsky.social
The Black Tax is a work of uncompromising scholarship, engaging readability and momentous importance. It is a pleasure to see it duly recognized for its excellence.
norton.bsky.social
In LA for the Urban History Assn, I've belatedly learned that my colleague and fellow UVa historian @Andrew Kahrl has won the Lizabeth Cohen Prize for Best Book on Cities and Political Power, for his masterful book The Black Tax: 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America. 👏👏👏👏👏
akahrl.bsky.social
I am happy to share the news that my book The Black Tax was named the winner of the Lizabeth Cohen Prize for Best Book on Cities and Political Power and received an Honorable Mention for the Kenneth Jackson Award for Best Book in North American Urban History from the Urban History Association
2025 Award Winners
www.urbanhistory.org
Reposted by Peter Norton
nickcunningham.bsky.social
“By 2028, an average family in the region will be paying around $70 a month extra on their electricity bills because of forecasted data center growth”

I'm once again asking why ratepayers are subsidizing AI titans?

www.eenews.net/articles/dat...
Data center boom sparks sticker shock for PJM ratepayers
New analyses show that costs passed on to utility customers to guarantee future electricity demand are rising rapidly.
www.eenews.net
norton.bsky.social
Mr Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, writing for a unanimous Supreme Court, reminds us all, including the White House, that false shouts of “fire!” are dangerous and can be lethal.
Reposted by Peter Norton
malcolmnance.bsky.social
TERRORISM EXPERT HERE:

This statement is a clear example of what is known as “State Terrorism”: When the dictatorship will order all instruments of its state security & intelligence apparatus against its own citizens to terrorize the population.
norton.bsky.social
Within two days, Goulet and other volunteers had collected 400 signatures on a petition demanding measures to slow drivers down and improve conditions for walking.

On January 26, volunteers paraded in the crosswalk, blocking motor traffic for about an hour and forcing police to reroute drivers.
norton.bsky.social
A motorist struck them both, killing Patrick and seriously injuring his mother.

One resident, Jim Goulet, told a reporter: “No one stops. they even just blow their horns at people in the crosswalk.”
norton.bsky.social
Like many other Canadians, Jim Goulet fought for walkable streets.

In Surrey, BC, busy 108th Ave divides apartments from the shops that serve residents’ everyday needs.

On Jan 24, 1974, Patricia McCallum and her 4-year-old son Patrick were crossing 108th at Oriole Drive in a marked crosswalk. ...
norton.bsky.social
On September 14 “the mothers cut off traffic between 8:00 and 9:05 am.”

Hours later, they won an agreement to station a crossing guard at the site.
norton.bsky.social
Canadians fought for walkable streets.

Scarborough (Toronto), September 1965:

“For a year they have been trying to get a permanent crossing guard at the corner.”

Then, on September 5, six-year-old Brian Jones, walking in the company of other children, was killed there. ...
norton.bsky.social
But the result is an illusion. Waymo “works” – but only by “burning billions.” They won’t even admit how much they lose per ride.

Gold leaf “works” as an anticorrosion treatment for steel bridges. There's a reason why we don’t use it.
norton.bsky.social
You remember correctly, @ezmckinney.bsky.social . It's expensive to proceed cautiously because no one wants to ride in a hyper-cautious car. One way out is to take risks, like Uber did – until it killed a woman. The other way is “burning billions,” so being owned by Alphabet helps.
norton.bsky.social
6. Must be read in light of the fact that the president has included millions of US citizens among “the enemies of our country.”

7. Requires us to remember Hugh Thompson Jr (1943-2006), whose comments on it, if he could offer them, are sorely needed and can be surmised.
norton.bsky.social
3. Repudiates solemn international commitments by the US under the Geneva Conventions.

4. Betrays and reverses previous administrations’ efforts to earn international trust and build our country’s reputation.

5. Impairs national security by estranging allies. ...
norton.bsky.social
— the Secretary of Defense, September 30, 2025.

This statement:
1. Is a green light to personnel who would commit atrocities or war crimes.

2. Is the kind of statement that our prosecutor at Nuremberg, Robert Jackson, cited to convict war criminals. ...
norton.bsky.social
“We also don’t fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement – just common sense, maximum lethality and authority for warfighters.” ...
norton.bsky.social
“Conservative” is the wrong word.
norton.bsky.social
Like many Canadians, Tammy MacDonald fought for walkable streets.
norton.bsky.social
Ternent “spent her time in jail doing sitting-up exercises,” according to a reporter. “‘When I got tired of that I started counting bricks on the wall. There are 185 in case anyone is interested.’”
norton.bsky.social
Among them, Mavis Ternent was arrested, and her placard was taken from her. Charged and released after three hours in jail, she went home, made a new placard, and returned to the picket line.