Arlo’s Insights

There is a tremendous amount of second rate analysis out there. If you listen to the coverage about East Palestine Ohio train disaster, you will hear all manner of madness on the right, but even the progressive and liberal media focuses on the civil war era breaks and some union suppression.

So where do you go if you are looking for deeper and more sophisticated analysis? Well, i go to Arlo. A Twin Oaks member who has lived at Twin Oaks most of their life. Now as full member, Arlo is a prolific political podcast listener, so i asked them to give me the two best podcasts of each week. One of them for the news which is not being well covered, and the other for general interesting insights.

They shared an excellent podcast on why the Ohio fire is so problematic. It explores the problem of the department of Transportation being a captured agency. [I’ve written about the Nuclear Regulator Commission as a captured agency.] This means the industry controls the policy and enforcement (or lack of enforcement). They share information about how chemical and railroad lobbyists clawed back the Obama era regulations on hazardous materials transport that paved the way for this accident. They explore why high profile politicians like Pete Buttigieg who could easily advance useful safety regulations will actually almost certainly do absolutely nothing.

Arlo and Mina – circa 2022

I am sure i will be sharing more of his work in the coming time.