In an odd way for someone who’s an Iowa caucus winner and cabinet secretary, because he started so young, @PeteButtigieg has grown up and matured on public view. @merica captures what has been an increasingly important chunk of that for him: being a dad
— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) April 26, 2024
I’m sure it helps that Buttigieg is working for a man who was once a single dad raising two young children. Biden has talked about how he couldn’t have stayed in the Senate without a strong family network to support him… and reliable public (rail) transportation between Washington DC and his home in Delaware. Dan Merica, for Notus — “How Parenthood Changed Pete Buttigieg”:
… Lis Smith, who had been Pete’s top media adviser in 2020 and was there that evening, remembers thinking how striking it was to see “someone who would gaggle in Norwegian on the campaign trail or could recall entire poems and recite them to a reporter in the car … cry uncle during bath time.” Smith, who recently had a child of her own, told me, “There was sometimes a perception of Pete that he was Mr. Perfect and that everything did come a little too easily to him. So there is something new and different seeing him sort of struggle like the rest of us with the challenges of child-rearing.”
The Pete Buttigieg who called for backup was indeed a changed man — more willing to acknowledge he needed help, yes, but also differently disposed toward politics and power than the hyper-confident small-city mayor that America first got to know in 2019. According to Pete, his husband and a dozen people who have known him for years, parenthood has altered everything from the kind of future he wants for himself to the say-yes-to-every-invitation attitude that helped him climb to the top rungs of American politics. “I’m more attuned to all of the different ways you can have a good life, only some of which involve public life,” he told me recently over lunch near the Department of Transportation’s headquarters in Washington.
Chasten told me that people routinely ask him what is next for his husband — but that’s the wrong question. “There has been a significant change in Pete,” Chasten said, “where I feel like he has recognized that leadership is extremely important, but it’s not the only thing.” He continued, “Pete has always been a really gifted, skilled public servant who, therefore, should continue to be of service and should continue to think about what’s next. … But then our kids came along, and I think Pete very quickly realized how good it is being home and being a family, and being in Washington robs you of many opportunities to just be a family.”
Buttigieg is hardly the first Washington official to face a trade-off between public ambition and parenting. Women have for generations borne the brunt of this dilemma — memorably captured by former State Department official Anne-Marie Slaughter in her viral 2012 essay, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All.” Now, Buttigieg is experiencing the dynamic first-hand. “I think work-life balance is still sometimes treated as though it were only a women’s issue,” he told me. “I think becoming a father helped me realize what was at stake for me personally in all of these debates about work-life balance, childcare and everything that goes along with it.”…
Buttigieg’s circumstances are also unusual because of the sheer scale and audacity of his one-time public ambition — unrivaled by any member, to date, of his generation. He was the first millennial to mount a credible presidential campaign, and he did so with a confidence that, to his critics, bordered on arrogance. I spent much of 2019 and 2020 bouncing around the country with him, from his breakout performance at a CNN town hall to long swings in Iowa and New Hampshire to more reflective time in his hometown. He ran a campaign defined by sweeping visions of the future, plans to “win the era” — and an extreme pace. “He is somebody who is a really hard worker,” said Smith. “That is one of the reasons he did so well in the presidential race.”
And now? “Having twins helped add a little more balance to his life,” Smith said. “It wasn’t just about himself, wasn’t just about work. It allowed him to focus on something completely different. … Life is so much bigger than him. Life is so much bigger than his political aspirations.”…
Pete Buttigieg always wanted to have children. In his book “Shortest Way Home,” he writes about how, long before he was a parent, he would think to himself that he’d want to “show my kids” something one day. Chasten was on the same page, and the topic came up on their first date. “I remember being like … ‘This is what I’m looking for,’” Chasten told me. “‘If that’s not what you’re looking for, I’m not really interested in driving to Indiana every weekend.’”
The two married in 2018, and Pete announced his presidential run in 2019, quickly becoming the most successful openly gay presidential candidate in history. In an interview with People during the campaign, Pete spoke about wanting to be a dad. “No matter what happens,” he said, “I think the next chapter in our personal lives is going to be about kids.” Yet he campaigned at an intensity that he now admits would have been impossible if he’d actually had them. “At the very least,” he told me, “we couldn’t have done it in the same way. I don’t know if we could have done what we did at all.”…
When we spoke, I asked Pete whether he would run for office again. “The honest answer is I don’t know. And the whole equation is just different,” he said before giving himself some wiggle room: “Not in a way that rules things in or out, but it’s definitely a different set of pros and cons, at least for as long as they’re school age.”
As for those presidential dreams, it seemed clear to me that Pete hadn’t given them up entirely. “I think it was Rahm Emanuel who famously said that the White House is very family-friendly if you’re the first family,” he noted…
The advantage to Buttigieg’s (relative) youth is that he can do what women have always had to do: Step back from his career while the twins are young, and return once they’re old enough to require (slightly) less attention. He can always ask Speaker Emerita Pelosi about that…
And he’s still working hard in Washington!
Sec. Buttigieg: If your flight is canceled, you will now be entitled to a cash refund. This package will also get your money back if the WiFi doesn’t work and provides more transparency on costs
Fox host: You had us at hello. So many times I’ve paid for things like WiFi that… pic.twitter.com/aGAWmzxzOd
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) April 24, 2024
We have a crisis of roadway deaths in this country—and today we’re taking a major step toward addressing this with our new rule on automatic emergency braking. pic.twitter.com/NRS8WJeA6o
— Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) April 30, 2024
Baud
“Automatic acceleration. Got it.” /Elon Musk
JWR
Second! Hooray!
Or does Second count when there’s no one else around? Except for Baud, that is. ;)
piratedan
if nothing else, I appreciate PB for how he handles himself when he goes on Fox and treats their idiocy with civility and takes time to get the message about what policy means and what is being done to people who believe that his party is busy holding pedophile parties in non-existent basements of pizza joints. He leaves them with a grudging admiration about how effectively Democrats lie so effectively.
NotMax
Unrelated to anything on topic, was listening to an old radio program and this snippet from the top of the hour news break within it stuck out enough (for whatever reason) to compel me to transcribe it.
Pulled verbatim from an actual early 1960s radio news report:
TBone
They’re going full on Newspeak. They think erasure of the word democracy is necessary to fulfill their dreams of totalitarian autocracy. I am here to say fuck all the way off with that, you’ll never censor my mouth or pen with your bullshit. These people make libertarians look intelligent.
https://twitter.com/MaddowBlog/status/1785141645316391195
Here’s some gold fringe for your tinfoil hat, assholes.
lowtechcyclist
Good morning to all the early risers. :-)
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
Good morning, LTC.
Liminal Owl
Good morning, all.
TBone
Went from using the gas fireplace on Sunday in the chill rain to needing the air conditioner yesterday. Harumph. Muggy and buggy too fast. It was almost 90 degrees here yesterday.
Liminal Owl
@TBone: Wow. Well, at least they’re saying the quiet part out loud, even if they’re pretending it’s about their brand. Hopefully enough people are paying attention, and maybe—maybe—a few of the lukewarm will peel off from the brand/party.
TBone
@Liminal Owl: thank you for the attitude adjustment, coffee is not helping yet 😕 fitful night of unaccustomed humidity
p.a.
@TBone: That’s been going on for a while. One of their
talkingpuking points has been “we’re a republic, not a democracy.” Whatev that’s supposed to imply. Prolly has to do with restricting the franchise.NotMax
@TBone
Wacky weather, huh?
Chris T.
@Baud: Technically, from a physics standpoint, braking is acceleration, subject to the usual F=ma law etc…
(My car has automatic emergency braking and I’ve never had it engage, which is probably a good thing)
TBone
@NotMax: that’s a mood lifter 😊 for a gal who usually can’t say goodbye to Old Man Winter soon enough. Need a period of adjustment first 😉
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
As someone who got hit by a car biking to work (by some miracle I wasn’t seriously injured despite the driver not being aware I was even there and hence slowing down until her car actually made contact with me) this seems like a good idea. Since the pandemic I’ve seen SO MANY drivers run full on red lights. That never used to happen. I’m not talking orange or just turned red a beat or two ago but full stop red for several seconds. And not the slow down and check for cross traffic either. We’re talking full speed don’t slow down straight through as if they have a green light. Not sure why it’s happening but I’d never seen drivers do that until the past couple years and now I see it regularly. Same goes for four way stops.
Mousebumples
I had forgotten Buttegieg was a polyglot. I wonder if his multilingual ability allows him to treat MAGA as just another language….
I appreciate how much Buttegieg has worked to leverage the tools available to DoT during his tenure as Secretary. I feel that Transportation is usually the “bipartisan” sacrificial lamb, where a Republican has been nominated by recent Dem presidents, to though someone may need to check my recall there.
Eyeroller
@Chris T.: Last fall my new car decided that a clump of leaves in the driveway was an obstacle and slammed on the brakes as I tried to back out. It refused to let me out of the garage until I blew the leaves off the driveway.
We might have fewer pedestrian accidents if newer cars and especially trucks didn’t have huge grilles that make smaller pedestrians invisible to the driver.
Suzanne
Pete is an amazing political talent, and I hope he has a long career. The first time I became aware of him was at the DNC Future Forum, and he absolutely stood out. He’s been a great Secretary of Transportation.
With the grace of the FSM, Biden will be needing to pick his second-term Cabinet secretaries. Maybe a promotion is in order for Pete.
MagdaInBlack
@NotMax: And here I was expecting the “Hippy Dippy Weatherman.”
Baud
@Eyeroller:
I assumed automatic braking was for sudden obstacles. I didn’t realize it prevented drivers from intentionally hitting people.
Baud
@Suzanne:
Agree on all points.
TBone
@p.a.: when I say Newspeak, I’m not being hyperbolic. They want to eliminate the word democracy from all of their records and speech. We’ve been warned.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspeak
p.a.
Well then we know which party will oppose the technology…
Suzanne
@Baud: I could see Pete at State.
Baud
@Suzanne:
If he’s going to run for president, he probably would like to burnish his foreign policy experience. Probably the one whole in his resume. Although that didn’t stop Obama.
ETA: It would be great to have an openly gay family man as the face of the country to the world.
lowtechcyclist
@p.a.:
Exactly! How am I going to run over a protester if my car won’t let me? They’re taking away my freedoms!!!
///
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@p.a.: they already are in the xitter thread to the announcement. Makes too expensive, gateway to a government kill switch etc. The alternative is to charge drivers criminally for hitting pedestrians and cyclists. That’s what they do in parts of Europe. You don’t get charged with just some minor failure to yield traffic infraction and held civilly liable for damages. You get criminally charged for I don’t know what maybe assault and battery, or criminal negligence or manslaughter? That really raises the stakes for drivers.
Martin
From the last video:
I think this is the fallacy of US road safety. It assumes that everyone has perfect and infinite cognitive capacity. The intersections near where I live are at a minimum 9 lanes of traffic and typically closer to 16 – 2 straight and one left/right in each of 4 directions. Throw in 4 bike lanes, crosswalks, the ability to do right on reds, and you typically have 20-50 moving features at any given time, and need to keep track of them in at least 3 directions. Just that, with no extra weird shit thrown in, likely exceeds most people’s cognitive capacity to keep track of reliably. It’s not that you aren’t paying attention – it’s that you _can’t_. We have made roads bigger and faster and more congested and you reach a point where you just can’t track all of the things you need to. You prioritize, and prioritizing means not paying attention to certain things and just hoping they don’t go flying across your windshield.
Technology can keep track of more stuff, sure, but one thing you find with these systems is that they are constantly tuned away from safety, because they constantly stop cars when the driver doesn’t think they should – the pedestrian that idly steps off the curb and a sensor catches them and stops. The kid running on the sidewalk next to cars stopped who could veer in front of a car, but probably won’t. You don’t see them as a driver, the sensor does, but you don’t want the sensor holding you because they kid is moving fast enough that the car couldn’t stop if the kid happened to turn.
The whole system relies on mutual trust. I’m going to trolly problem this intersection on the expectation that everyone else will be perfectly predictable. They’re doing the same thing. You usually have the same definition of ‘perfectly predictable’ and you may not. And shit happens. But it’s also not a symmetric problem in terms of consequence. If me on my bike and you in your car misjudge what should happen, you get a scratch on your fender and I’m dead. So those sensors try and protect you from any potential incident, which in a lot of cases almost completely paralyzes the car because there’s so much happening. You want to go, but only because you’re discounting a lot of possible impacts as not likely to happen. Not that they can’t happen, just that you’re willing to take the risk in your two ton vehicle.
The UN has advocated for 25km/h maximum speed limit in urban areas. Much of Europe is heading the same way. Indianapolis just had 5 pedestrian fatalities in I think 8 days. NYC gets this perfectly American headline. NYC records 60 traffic deaths in 1st quarter of 2024, the most since Vision Zero began. And note, there are more cars with collision detection and automatic braking now than in any previous year, and despite that the number keeps going up. Technology isn’t doing shit here to fix this.
The inescapable conclusion is to lower speeds. Not only does it make it VASTLY more likely that someone will survive an impact, it shrinks the number of things motorists need to keep track of because the space where your car can end up given your reaction time and ability to steer and stop is significantly smaller when you go slower, so it steadily brings the world more into people’s cognitive abilities. This is what that looks like. Put aside that these aren’t cars, they still aren’t hitting each other despite the lack of traffic controls. Nobody here is at risk of dying or being seriously injured (there is one minor collision at 2:00 and a near miss at 6:00). But trade half of those out for cars and it would be equally safe simply because the speeds are reduced. Market Street San Francisco did just fine too at similar speeds over a century ago.
There simply is no getting around this. If you think self-driving cars are not practically feasible, than neither are self-stopping ones.
Baud
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Pretty sure most places already have negligent homicide laws. Sometimes the pedestrian or cyclist is at fault. Doesn’t mean they should die, but the driver shouldn’t be criminally liable in those situations.
If there’s no driver override, that’s an issue. But if machines have better reaction ability, then I think automatic braking can be a good thing.
snoey
@Eyeroller: It’s even more what happens after the impact. A properly designed nose like that on a Honda Fit will roll the victim up and to the side. A F-150 puts them under the vehicle.
TBone
I like it when our enforcement arms are working.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/apr/29/fcc-fines-wireless-carriers-t-mobile-verizon
Suzanne
@Baud: Maybe he can lead State in the Harris or Whitmer administration and then get the big job.
Suzanne
@Martin: I will also note that modes of mass transit, such as light rail or streetcars, can be much safer for pedestrians. These, of course, have their own different problems.
Baud
@Suzanne:
Sometimes I lament the talent we have. Not enough spots for all of them.
NotMax
@Martin
Also too the introduction of so many different features meant on paper to prioritize driver safety has resulted in too many cases in driver complacency, reducing attention and alertness. IMHO.
AM in NC
@snoey: Yep, the fact that 2/3 of Americans are driving flat-fronted tanks is a HUGE safety issue for everyone.
Martin
@Baud: They are never employed unless the driver is drunk. 2 year old 2 blocks from my house is riding her scooter on the sidewalk, helmet on, mom right behind her, woman in a minivan leans over to pick something up that she dropped, accidentally swerves and runs the kid over killing her. Not charged.
One year prior, about 3 miles from my house an Amazon delivery driver is in a shared driveway and runs a 2 year old boy over. Not charged.
Last summer about a mile and a half from my house a father and his 5 year old are crossing the street. Dad is holding his hand, in the crosswalk with the cross signal, when a right on red driver turns and runs over his kid, killing him. Driver not charged.
I’ve had two friends die from being hit by bikes in past years, Neither driver charged. And CA has pretty strong negligent homicide laws. And it’s not uncommon anywhere.
The main theory behind this is that the US is so economically dependent on a populace that can drive that they do not dare prohibit people from driving. It’s estimated that nearly 10% of all drivers don’t have active licenses. It’s common for people with suspended licenses to drive to the DMV to get their license restored. Consider if just 10% of the workforce couldn’t get to work any longer. It’d be like April 2020 all over again. We don’t hold drivers accountable because we’ve provided no meaningful way for the economy to function if we did.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Baud:
If? It’s simply a question of when. I’ve read things before that have said he’s wanted to be president since he was a kid.
I don’t say that as a bad thing. As I’ve said before, having worked at DOT for 27+ years, I’ve seen a lot of secretaries. He’s clearly the most public, by far the best communicator an engaged DOT Secretary during that time frame.
It’s clear that from an executive, political level, he can be anything.
Baud
@Martin:
Then new criminal laws wouldn’t help. Just be a new set of laws not employed. No one is going to tolerate no-fault strict criminal liability against drivers.
Baud
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
I mean, he’s already run for president, so yeah. But life is unpredictable.
Geminid
@Baud: All the more reason to value the work they do now.
NotMax
@NotMax
And don’t get me started on drivers taking their eyes from the road in order to look at and fiddle with those screens.
Baud
@Geminid:
👍
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Baud:
I meant that he’ll run again. Not saying when, hell, he could turn out like Biden in the “Third Time’s a Charm In My 70s” category, but he will run again someday.
Ken
They had about 380 homicides last year. I hadn’t realized the numbers were that close. I wonder how they compare in other cities.
Martin
@Baud: I don’t think new criminal laws would help. I don’t think motorists are being overly negligent in terms of their driving – I think we are all being set up to hurt other people with vehicles and expectations that are unrealistic.
I think active speed limiters would help. I mean, they are standard on race cars to limit speeds during pits stops. And they’re professional drivers in a closed environment – and they rely on speed limiters. I think banning cars that can go 0-60 in 4 seconds would help. I think requiring a commercial license to drive a vehicle over 2 tons would help. I think dramatically reducing speeds would help. I think narrowing roads and removing lanes would help. I think transit would help.
I’m not interested in punishing people. I just want to be able to get around safely. And I don’t buy the argument that the high speeds are necessary. I can usually get anywhere in my city as fast or faster by bike than car, despite most roads having 50MPH limits, even when there is minimal traffic. And my bike has a 28MPH speed limiter. My car doesn’t, though. I’m not going to hurt anyone on my bike, limiter or not.
Baud
@Martin:
This one confuses me.
Ken
@NotMax: My car frequently pops up a message on the screen, to the effect that taking my eyes off the road is dangerous. Granted, but I had to take my eyes off the road to see the message.
I don’t think it’s based on my behavior; it sometimes appears when I start the car, sometimes in the middle of a trip.
Martin
@Ken: 18000 homicides nationally, 7000 pedestrian deaths. NYC is pretty homicide safe city, overall given its population, and has a LOT of pedestrians. My city you are MUCH more likely to be killed by a car than in a homicide, though. Not even close. Probably one of the few.
Baud
@Ken:
I don’t think I’ve ever had the message pop up in the middle of a trip.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Baud: Yes it has to be the driver’s fault. Technically I guess maybe a driver could be criminally charged in the US but it happens almost never unless the driver is intoxicated. Even when a pedestrian is killed it’s rare for the driver to be charged for more than traffic violation. So maybe they don’t need new laws but for DAs to charge in these cases. Either way it would add a deterrent.
@Martin: Though I get Martin’s point here and it’s a good one. Redesign of the infrastructure along with lower speeds in urban areas is the best solution. That’s what they did in The Netherlands. They eliminated all the super wide multilane roads with frequent intersections/traffic stops and turned them into limited access highways where cars can travel at speed and pedestrians and cyclists aren’t allowed. Then they have streets with single lanes in both directions with maybe a left turn lane. Car speeds are slow on those because there are lots of non drivers. It’s better for drivers because they make much better time on the highway than they would on the multilane stop and go road. It’s safer on the streets for everyone else.
Martin
@Baud: Studies have shown for quite a while that speed limits do nothing. Complete policy failure. If you want cars to go 25, you make the road feel too dangerous to drive more than 25 down. Turns out motorists are much more concerned about hurting their car than the kid on the sidewalk, so you plant trees close to the road, you make it so cars have to pass very close to each other, etc. In the Netherlands it’s not uncommon for the entrance to a residential area to have a spot where the road narrows to a single lane for 20′ or so and cars have to negotiate passing through the little chokepoint. It forces you to slow down.
Wide roads lull you into thinking there’s nothing to hit, so you either go faster or you pay less attention. Fewer lanes does the same thing. It’s counterintuitive, I agree, but it’s pretty well studied.
ETtheLibrarian
A local DC blog posted a picture from a reader that could accompany this article, Pete riding a bus to work with his kids (and one security personnel)
Ha N.
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Recently, I once went through a red light in the morning going to work. I saw the red light, but it didn’t click that red meant stop until I was past the light. Luckily, the only other car on the road with me was behind me, so no one got hurt. It could be that long Covid is more prevalent than people admit.
lowtechcyclist
@Martin:
This. Sprawl is the enemy. Suburban/exurban sprawl doesn’t have the population density to support public transportation, and that means everyone needs to drive. In this country, not being able to drive is almost like being disabled.
I don’t know what you do about that – so much is already baked in to our landscape.
NotMax
@Ken
I listen to music stored on a USB drive in my vehicle. It forbids browsing or scrolling/changing an audio selection from the touchscreen while the vehicle is in motion. And stupidly, if one tries to do that, displays a warning message to that effect which one must manually disappear by looking over and pressing Close on the screen.
However vehicle also includes physical controls (knobs) – the same as for a traditional radio – which i quite by accident discovered (mentioned nowhere in the owner’s manual) can be turned to advance or go back among the choices on the USB drive while on the go. Only need to reach over while keeping the eyes on the road.
JML
@Martin: yeah, but we’re also socialized to think that “speed limit” isn’t actually the limits, but more like a zone. While most people speed on my freeway commute, relatively few are going more than 10mph higher, and the vast majority are at 5mph over or so.
but you’re not wrong.
the real way to slow people down in a neighborhood with kids and families and so forth are speed bumps. even the really wide ones definitely keep the speeds down.
lowtechcyclist
@Martin:
I’ve got a good local example – or rather, a pair of examples: two adjacent towns that have gone different ways with this. Chesapeake Beach and North Beach, MD, aka the ‘twin beaches.’
They’re definitely fraternal rather than identical twins. North Beach has gone the route of narrowing the roads and doing the various design things that make you feel like 25 mph is good, but much faster would feel uncomfortable. They don’t have a single stop light in town because they don’t need one.
Chesapeake Beach, OTOH: several years ago they raised the elevation of a bridge just north of the town’s main intersection so that bigger boats could get to a harbor area on the inland side of the bridge. When they did that, they also widened the main intersection and the roads leading in, and now people zoom through that intersection like bats out of hell. I’d feel uncomfortable crossing the main road there even with the light.
Which is really too bad. On one side of the intersection, there’s a small shopping center with grocery, pharmacy, post office, bank, a restaurant and a couple of fast-food places. On the other, there’s space that could be developed into apartment buildings where retired people could do without cars because everything you need on a daily basis is right across the street, just have some Zipcars handy for the occasional longer errand. Except they’d fear for their lives when crossing that street.
twbrandt
@Martin: As an urbanist friend of mine puts it: “20 is plenty”.
Uncle Cosmo
Dr Lee, the Korean-American Elementary Physics lecturer at The Hop in the dim dark past, told us that when driving a car one had two methods of acceleration: the gas pedal (for in-line speed) and the steering wheel (for changes in direction). He then continued,
One can only conjecture as to the model and year of Dr Lee’s first American automobile. (I’m guessing a Biscayne – they were historically underpowered. [Our fambly had a ’63 Biscayne, 3-on-the-column with an in-line 6.]) :^D
twbrandt
@JML: On Michigan freeways, speed limits are more like floors than ceilings.
p.a.
Atrios has been on the lack of prosecutions for pedestrian deaths in the US for a while.
Cars & Guns. The no-fault gods.
Uncle Cosmo
Thanky kindly for this classic and trenchant illustration of the major “whole” in spell-checkers (homonyms) and the attendant risk in relying too much on the software to fix one’s text. The rest of you are on notice!
snoey
@twbrandt: Us Massholes believe that 10 over is in the Bill of Rights somewhere.
NotMax
@JML
Ugh. I loathe speed bumps. Or rather, the overuse of speed bumps.
Every 50 feet? Really?
NotMax
re: above
Having interstates pegged at 75 or 80 mph is insane.
Geminid
@twbrandt: A lot of towns in North Carolina have 20 mph speed limits. I couldn’t say how strictly they’re enforced; I always observe them because of my out-of-state plates.
sab
Gay guy marries a teacher and becomes concerned about family and children. I am gobsmacked.
//
sab
@twbrandt: My stepdaughter in Ohio agrees.
She is a Uber driver, another reason not to use Uber.
mrmoshpotato
@TBone: Oh Washington state GOP… Shove that all the way up your asses until it comes out your mouths.
And them shitting their pants about the National Popular Vote initiative – bring it on! If only it could be retroactive – no George Warcriminal Bush and no Dump.
frosty
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: When my friend was killed by a logging truck on our cross-country bike tour the police who responded recommended charging the driver with criminally negligent homicide. The DA decided not to file charges. Texas.
You can’t make a nationwide decision to charge drivers who kill pedestrians. It’s up to thousands of individual DAs.
brantl
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: Assholes with cell phoned with very little brains?
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@frosty: Probably a dead thread but I’m aware of that problem. It’s exactly what I was pointing out Maybe there’s some way within the political system to encourage DAs to prosecute. It happens in some other countries. But the best and ultimate solution is changes to infrastructure.