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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Not Every Idiot Is A Republican, But Every Republican…

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Not Every Idiot Is A Republican, But Every Republican…

by Anne Laurie|  May 14, 20155:36 am| 116 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Open Threads, Science & Technology, Decline and Fall

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.@davidfrum Great tweet my guy, but I liked you better when you were advocating for endless, destructive, wholly unnecessary foreign wars.

— David Roth (@david_j_roth) May 13, 2015

Amtrak's killed more people than fracking. Guess which one the Left wants to subsidize.

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) May 14, 2015

With apologies to John Stuart Mill.

More background, from Tom Zoellner at the Washington Post:

… There is a perverse historical reason for this that goes beyond politics: The United States never suffered catastrophic bombing during World War II and thus (as I detailed in my book, “Train: Riding the Rails That Created the Modern World — From the Trans-Siberian to the Southwest Chief“) had no need to give special attention to its massive network of privatized systems like the Union Pacific, C&O and Great Northern, which, combined, carried around 70 percent of the intercity traveling public.

Europe was different: Its railroads were wrecked, its population was hungry for jobs, and its governments were flush with Marshall Plan aid that was almost immediately channeled into the powerful rail ministries. Lavish infrastructure spending ensured that tiny hamlets across France, Germany and Italy got multiple daily visits from locomotives pulling cars of food, mail and people. And automobile ownership across Europe lagged far behind America in the postwar rebuilding years, so the rails were economically indispensable.

All the willpower in the United States, meanwhile, went to building the Interstate Highway system — a pet project of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had been impressed with German autobahns and also wanted a rapid way of evacuating American cities in case of a nuclear strike. Congress also saw it as a bonus to Texas oil companies and Detroit carmakers. The public-private prosperity dynamic had no patience for trains anymore…

The system improved a bit in 1970, when Richard Nixon signed the Rail Passenger Service Act, merging all the battered passenger trains under a government umbrella with an expectation of profitability. Profits, though, never followed, because the agency known as Amtrak has an impossible mission. Congress must approve its annual budget — at a rate of subsidy that lags far behind that granted to European railroads — which barely pays for maintenance, let alone the kind of costly improvements that would make it a genuine alternative to the car or bus in places outside the Boston-Washington corridor. The Northeast, where rail traffic between Philadelphia and New York remained suspended Tuesday afternoon, carries 11 million passengers each year in one of the only parts of the nation that retains a robust cultural identity with trains. Even there, the high-speed disappointment known as the Acela must run along a right-of-way first surveyed in the early 19th century with many anachronistic curves, including the one jumped by the train Monday morning….

Reminder: Train travel is incredibly safe. http://t.co/dLpI98KH02 pic.twitter.com/RxD84Iprk8

— Sam Wang (@SamWangPhD) May 13, 2015

Hypothesis: Worse for Amtrak than a lack of funding is the uncertainty that comes from conservatives' desire to kill it entirely.

— Noah Smith (@Noahpinion) May 13, 2015


***********
Apart from the usual decline & fall, what’s on the agenda for the day?

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Previous Post: « Late Night Open Thread: Be Careful What You Wish for…
Next Post: Rebuilding the stool »

Reader Interactions

116Comments

  1. 1.

    David Koch

    May 14, 2015 at 5:42 am

    19-year old College Student kicks ¡Jeb’s warmongering ass.

    She’s pretty fucking awesome. (Video)

    Ziedrich: The threat of ISIS was created by the Iraqi Coalition Authority which ousted the entire government of Iraq. It was when 30,000 individuals who were part of the Iraqi military, they were forced out, they had no employment, they had no income. Yet they were left with access to all of the same arms and weapons. Your brother created ISIS.

    ¡Jeb: Is that a question?

    Ziedrich: You don’t need to be pedantic to me, sir.

    ¡Jeb: Pedantic? Wow.

    Ziedrich: You could just answer my question.

    ¡Jeb: So what is the question?

    Ziedrich: My question is why are you saying that ISIS was created by us not having a presence in the Middle East when it’s pointless wars, when we sent young men to die for the idea of American exceptionalism? It’s this idea – like, why are you spouting nationalistic rhetoric to get us involved in more wars?

    ¡Jeb: We respectfully disagree… Al Qaeda had been taken out, there was a fraudulent system that could have been brought up to create, to eliminate the sectarian violence and we had an agreement that the president could have signed, it would have kept 10,000 troops, which is less than what we have in Korea. It could have created the stability that would have allow for Iraq to progress. The net result was, the opposite occurred because immediately that void was filled. And so, look, you can rewrite history all you want but the simple fact is that we’re in a much more unstable place because America pulled back.

  2. 2.

    Zinsky

    May 14, 2015 at 5:44 am

    Good God, Erick Erickson is a mindless twit. Thank God he chose to be Republican, because we sure don’t want someone this stupid on our side!!

  3. 3.

    Schlemazel

    May 14, 2015 at 6:14 am

    @Zinsky:
    But he knows his audience. That shit sells to the people he is trying to reach and is even now becoming part of the bedrock of the battle against sensible government and for the continued rape of the globe.

  4. 4.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 14, 2015 at 6:23 am

    @David Koch:

    the president could have signed, it would have kept 10,000 troops,

    As I said over at OTB yesterday-

    Follow up question Gov Bush: Would you have signed that agreement sir? The agreement that would have subjected US service men and women to the Iraqi judicial system? Yes or no sir?

    Because that is what was the sticking point. We were not inclined to allow our people to be judged in kangaroo courts, and they were not inclined to let us do what ever the F we wanted and not have to answer to them. And who could blame them? To most Americans, Nisour Square is a shopping mall in Alabama but to the Iraqis, it is something else entirely.

  5. 5.

    Keith G

    May 14, 2015 at 6:26 am

    Certainly there is enough wealth being generated in this society to begin addressing the severe infrastructure issues. What hasn’t happened is the emergence of a strong voice on the left to able to make a concise and clear argument in the way Senator Warren has become the voice for financial reform.

    From what I have been able to gather, in purely anecdotal ways, is that there is a growing audience for this message.

  6. 6.

    David Koch

    May 14, 2015 at 6:28 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Not only that, it was his… wait for it… brother who in 2008 signed the status of forces agreement that removed all troops in iraq by the end of 2011.

  7. 7.

    David Koch

    May 14, 2015 at 6:31 am

    @David Koch: oops. I posted the wrong link.

    Here is the link of young Ivy stomping on ¡Jeb’s ass.

  8. 8.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    May 14, 2015 at 6:37 am

    @David Koch: Yes, but the Republican talking point on this is: If only the Kenyan Moslin Sochilist had renegotiated that agreement we could have kept 10K troops in Iraq on our terms.

  9. 9.

    chopper

    May 14, 2015 at 6:39 am

    man even for erickson that shit was specious. i guess we shouldn’t spend money studying cancer cause of all the people it’s killed.

  10. 10.

    David Koch

    May 14, 2015 at 6:47 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: to which we retort, we didn’t want to break bush’s bipartisan agreement. he broke it, he owned it.

  11. 11.

    chopper

    May 14, 2015 at 6:51 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    that’s a fine needle for jeb to thread and he’s got stubby fingers.

    “yeah, my brother fucked up and O should have made it better”

  12. 12.

    Frankensteinbeck

    May 14, 2015 at 6:56 am

    Guys, forget it. You can’t out-debate a bullshitter. He doesn’t care about the truth. As long as he lives in his own fantasy world, the truth will always be on his side and you are the one rewriting history. A very large portion of the country lives in that fantasy world because Fuck Liberals, and they include the national news media. There is no argument you can present that he has to acknowledge, and his fantasy world will always be presented as serious in the public discussion.

    Romney had to be unbelievably, pathetically clumsy to be caught on a very specific, recent, let’s-go-to-the-transcript fact to be caught out on it, and even then he could have recovered if he were a better liar.

    EDIT – As far as all conservatives, the vast majority of the media (but I repeat myself), and anybody who takes traditional media seriously is concerned, HE made a fool of HER.

  13. 13.

    dmsilev

    May 14, 2015 at 6:58 am

    @chopper: Watching Jeb Bush flail over the last few days has been hilarious. Maybe he should use some of those millions of SuperPAC dollars and buy himself a name change. Might help.

  14. 14.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 14, 2015 at 6:58 am

    Amtrak’s killed more people than fracking. Guess which one the Left wants to subsidize.

    Well, you’re killed instantly in a train crash. Takes years to die from tainted well water. Also, I recently read about a sharp increase in earthquakes in places where fracking is allowed.

    William Ellsworth, a research geologist at the United States Geological Survey, told me, “We can say with virtual certainty that the increased seismicity in Oklahoma has to do with recent changes in the way that oil and gas are being produced.” Many of the larger earthquakes are caused by disposal wells, where the billions of barrels of brackish water brought up by drilling for oil and gas are pumped back into the ground. (Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking—in which chemically treated water is injected into the earth to fracture rocks in order to access oil and gas reserves—causes smaller earthquakes, almost always less than 3.0.) Disposal wells trigger earthquakes when they are dug too deep, near or into basement rock, or when the wells impinge on a fault line. Ellsworth said, “Scientifically, it’s really quite clear.”

  15. 15.

    Raven

    May 14, 2015 at 7:00 am

    Fixin to go under the knife!

  16. 16.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 14, 2015 at 7:02 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    A very large portion of the country lives in that fantasy world because Fuck Liberals, and they include the national news media.

    Sad and true. Net neutrality… you’d think everyone with a computer and a modem would support that. But because Obama supported it, I saw idiots in the comments section of my local media attack it (without understanding what it meant, what it was trying to prevent)

  17. 17.

    Sherparick

    May 14, 2015 at 7:02 am

    1. The Republicans don’t even want spend money on roads and bridges anymore. Apparently, the .1% takes helicopters and private planes, so who needs some stinking infrastructure anymore!!.

    2. To the extent they want to find any money, the libertarians and Right Wing think tanks want to 1) close down all mass transportation (after all only Those People use it) along with the pittance spent on encouraging bicycle use and 2) use that money in “public-private” partnerships to build toll roads and bridges (where the private gets the profits and the public who can’t afford the tolls sits in traffic).

    3. It appears from my experience and the experience of my neighbors that there is no bigger problem for finding and keeping jobs, American family life, and social interaction in community then long commutes.

  18. 18.

    sharl

    May 14, 2015 at 7:06 am

    Harry Shearer is leaving The Simpsons. From his twitter account:

    Harry Shearer @theharryshearer · 7 hours ago
    from James L. Brooks’ lawyer: “show will go on, Harry will not be part of it, wish him the best.”. (1/2)

    This because I wanted what we’ve always had: the freedom to do other work.
    Of course, I wish him the very best. (2/2)

    Thanks, Simpsons fans, for your support.

  19. 19.

    sharl

    May 14, 2015 at 7:08 am

    @Raven: Best wishes for successful going-under-the-knife activities, Raven!

  20. 20.

    Bobby Thomson

    May 14, 2015 at 7:09 am

    @chopper: Very poor analogy because we don’t subsidize cancer.

    A better analogy – though one that would still elude that idiot – is that if people die of neglect at a VA hospital, the appropriate response is to replace those responsible and fix the problem, not close the entire hospital.

  21. 21.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 14, 2015 at 7:11 am

    We watched Blackish last night. Bill Maher had a brief cameo.

    Their oldest son joins his school’s republican club (to impress a girl).

    Father has a quick fantasy of his son on Bill Maher’s show saying “Let me tell you what’s wrong with black people.”

    It was a great episode.

  22. 22.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 14, 2015 at 7:15 am

    @Sherparick:

    It appears from my experience and the experience of my neighbors that there is no bigger problem for finding and keeping jobs, American family life, and social interaction in community then long commutes.

    Plus the expense of maintaining a car. My neighbor’s daughter was taking college classes. She took a full time job. They bought her a cheap used car because she had no other way to get to work. All they could afford. Ended up spending extra money for repairs, tires. Her salary wasn’t that great to begin with. I was surprised to hear her grandfather say he wished there was a train she could hop on for her commute.

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 14, 2015 at 7:18 am

    @Raven: OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY….

  24. 24.

    PurpleGirl

    May 14, 2015 at 7:19 am

    @Raven: Good luck.

  25. 25.

    satby

    May 14, 2015 at 7:23 am

    @Raven: Best of luck!

  26. 26.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 14, 2015 at 7:23 am

    @Bobby Thomson: Nope. Close the VA hospital because people are gonna die and it is much cheaper if they do it at home.

  27. 27.

    chopper

    May 14, 2015 at 7:27 am

    @sharl:

    well he’s been with the show for 26 years.

  28. 28.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    May 14, 2015 at 7:28 am

    @Sherparick: Republican aims have been consistent for many, many years – but they still don’t usually state them overtly (because they would be too unpopular). The fringe Teabaggers are starting to go there, though.

    E.g. “Cutting taxes leads to economic growth.” They don’t really believe that. Their point in cutting taxes isn’t to increase growth or create jobs. It’s to “starve the beast”. They want to reduce government revenue so that the only thing the national government spends money on is defense and favored subsidies (which are couched in language about freedom). Similarly in the states. Brownback doesn’t care that Kansas isn’t growing as fast as its neighbors – or only cares to the extent that it makes him campaign around it. His policies are working as designed – government is shrinking there. Public schools are weaker, etc., etc.

    What does this have to do with infrastructure? They don’t care about infrastructure. Their focus is always short-term when it comes to economic policies. Need new roads? “We can’t afford it. Let’s have Transurban (an Australian company) build it.” Who cares if nobody is willing to pay to use them (e.g. the 495 Express Lanes in NoVA) – that’s Transurban’s problem, amirite? (Of course, if toll roads continue to lose money, companies eventually will stop building them. Then what?)

    Democrats need to stop taking Republican “arguments” at face value. Look at the result of the past policies and predictable results of the proposals. Don’t argue that “tax cuts don’t create jobs”. Argue that our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents paid to build up our nation and our leadership has let it crumble. We can start fixing it now in a serious way, or we can pay much more later. Similarly, schools and public health isn’t money burnt in a pit – it helps everyone.

    We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, …

    Teabaggers are free to believe that government should be tiny and financed through tariffs the way it was before the 1900s. That doesn’t mean that we have to use their framing to argue against their policies.

    (/rant)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  29. 29.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    May 14, 2015 at 7:32 am

    @Raven: Good luck.

  30. 30.

    satby

    May 14, 2015 at 7:33 am

    @Germy Shoemangler: Here in beautiful Michigassippi they’re “unpaving” roads rather than maintaining them. My job is to try to find jobs for my disabled clients, most who are close to the poverty line, who can only work within the tiny radius of the bus system in St. Joe-Benton Harbor because that’s their main transportation. Dial-a-Ride can take up to an hour to pickup or drop off, so someone working a minimum wage job at the mall 15 minutes away from the town proper potentially spends 2-3 hours in their commute if they’re disabled. That’s nuts. And a constant reminder, as if they need one, of how little society values them, their time, or even their existence.

  31. 31.

    sharl

    May 14, 2015 at 7:33 am

    @chopper: Yep, and I always assume that with a long-running franchise like that, production management must have a plan already in place for that time when their aging talent moves on for whatever reason.

  32. 32.

    satby

    May 14, 2015 at 7:35 am

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: right on!

  33. 33.

    Bobby Thomson

    May 14, 2015 at 7:36 am

    @sharl: Seems awfully petty to deny him the ability to do outside projects.I don’t see how they can do the show at all without recasting at least some of his characters, which will suck. Time to end it.

  34. 34.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 14, 2015 at 7:40 am

    @Bobby Thomson: But I thought he was already involved in outside projects. He has a syndicated radio show.

    Will they recast his characters or kill them off? I remember when Robin Williams didn’t want to do the Aladdin sequel, they hired Dan Castellaneta (voice of Homer Simpson among others) to do a Robin Williams impersonation.

  35. 35.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 14, 2015 at 7:43 am

    The muppets have a new tv show. It’s more edgy than the old muppets. For example, Fozzie Bear wants to marry a human girl, and her parents object. “where will your kids go to the bathroom, in the woods?” “That’s an offensive stereotype!”

    Here’s the trailer.

    In the above clip there is a scene with Kermit sitting in his car. His eyes are red. He says “I’m always happy. Legally now.”

  36. 36.

    debbie

    May 14, 2015 at 7:45 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Because that is what was the sticking point.

    If Bush had no problem sending the military over without adequate body armor (“Stuff happens”), why would he care about their exposure to prosecution (“It’s the known unknowns.”)?

  37. 37.

    debbie

    May 14, 2015 at 7:48 am

    @Germy Shoemangler:

    That Bill Maher bit cracked me up!

  38. 38.

    Bobby Thomson

    May 14, 2015 at 7:49 am

    @Germy Shoemangler:

    But I thought he was already involved in outside projects.

    That’s why he talked about the freedom he’s always had. Reading between the lines, management wanted him to stop doing that. There may be more to the story, but I still don’t see the point in doing the show without him. I’m not a fan of Looney Tunes without Mel, either.

    ETA: and they can’t just kill off his characters. They’re half of Springfield.

  39. 39.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 14, 2015 at 7:53 am

    @satby:

    …who can only work within the tiny radius of the bus system in St. Joe-Benton Harbor because that’s their main transportation.

    True. If a minimum-wage job isn’t on a bus line, it will be out of reach for the majority of applicants. The right never understand this. They think everyone has access to an SUV and if for some odd reason they don’t, it’s their fault.

    I’ve heard assholes complain about bus lines bringing “those people” in to towns. Residents actually arguing AGAINST increased bus service, because they see their lack of transportation options as a sort of moat around their exurban castle…

    But then they can’t get anyone to wash the dishes and sweep the floors of their Ruby Tuesdays and TGIFs

  40. 40.

    Baud

    May 14, 2015 at 7:54 am

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:

    I like that.

  41. 41.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 14, 2015 at 7:55 am

    Some first-rate writing in Blackish. And the girl who plays the youngest daughter, the one with the glasses, she’s becoming more of a major character. I like her weird feud with the father’s co-worker friend.

    And the grandmother is hilarious. I’m glad it was renewed.

  42. 42.

    Kathleen

    May 14, 2015 at 7:55 am

    @Raven: I hope all goes well for you. I’m sure it will!

  43. 43.

    ET

    May 14, 2015 at 7:56 am

    Well Ercik dear which has killed more people than cars in the last 50 years – cars or trains? Guess which one Republicans continue to subsidize with highway spending…….

  44. 44.

    ThresherK

    May 14, 2015 at 7:57 am

    American Idol is over. For now.

    Let’s celebrate!

  45. 45.

    Kathleen

    May 14, 2015 at 8:00 am

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Watched Today Show “coverage” of the Amtrak accident. While they danced around the need to improve infrastructure, they uttered not one word about the House GOP’s vote against Amtrak improvements yesterday. #GOPTools

  46. 46.

    Kathleen

    May 14, 2015 at 8:02 am

    @Germy Shoemangler: I love that show, too. Thought Charlie’s question to Dre (“Does the girl twin still live at home”?) was hilarious (this was on episode when the staff at the ad agency was discussing Dre’s birthday party).

  47. 47.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 14, 2015 at 8:04 am

    @ThresherK: Saw a headline this morn: Where would Country music be today without American Idol?

    Hmmm… I don’t know, back where it belongs?

    (for the record, I like country music, not this schlock that is foisted off on people today)

  48. 48.

    Frankensteinbeck

    May 14, 2015 at 8:05 am

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:

    They don’t really believe that. Their point in cutting taxes isn’t to increase growth or create jobs. It’s to “starve the beast”.

    Democrats need to stop taking Republican “arguments” at face value.

    You’re halfway there. Look at what they want to cut first, what they use ‘fiscal conservatism’ and ‘the deficit’ to cover, since as you’ve noticed their actions say they don’t care about the economy. They want to cut worker protections, education, and most importantly, consistently, and above all else ‘welfare’. They want to cut everything they see as helping blacks. The laws they complain about and want to overturn are all laws that stop them from bigotry and being cruel to other people however they see fit.

    This is about racism. This is about hate. Until white people (like me) are willing to face that directly, Republicans will always have cover and no argument will convince.

    @debbie:
    Because letting the American military take the blame for anything, be subject to the judgment of anybody, is unacceptable to neocon dogma. If there’s anything the Bush administration made clear, it’s that they believed in dogma over facts and certainly over people’s lives.

  49. 49.

    ThresherK

    May 14, 2015 at 8:08 am

    @Germy Shoemangler: I liked the general idea of last night’s episode, with the typical caveats (i.e. “Strong families and personal responsibility are the sole property of the GOP, and may not be used without the expressed written permission of the Republican Party and Mark Halperin”).

    Wondered how many minutes a both-sets-of-parents conversation could go on in the real world without talking about the Voting Rights Act or reminding the black Republicans who their new best friends are.

    PS This show is miles above that other sitcom Anthony Anderson was in. Before this, I didn’t know he had the comic chops to pull it off.

  50. 50.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 14, 2015 at 8:09 am

    @Kathleen: Rather than explore the deeper infrastructure issues, all the broadcast and morning shows I’ve seen spend their time on “human interest” stories… the victims. I guess they believe it makes for more entertaining television.

    Of course it’s good to focus on victim stories, but it ultimately does them a disservice if the true causes of the accident are glossed over.

  51. 51.

    Kay

    May 14, 2015 at 8:10 am

    Today will be moment ‘o truth for the 10 pro-trade Democrats in the Senate and also the White House. They promised enforcement, “the most progressive trade deal ever”, and if they don’t get any of the things they promised I don’t think people will believe Democrats when they say “we tried!” in 2016:

    Wyden is in a difficult spot, facing reelection next year and representing a state that’s deeply divided on the trade issue. His vote has been heavily courted by the GOP and the White House — so much so that a potential meeting with Obama was canceled Monday because Wyden couldn’t attend. (His office did not say why he couldn’t meet with the president; he ended up meeting Tuesday with Obama and a group of Senate Democrats at the White House after the failed vote.)

    Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/scenes-from-the-democratic-meltdown-117884.html#ixzz3a75rWZUQ

    Wyden says he’ll vote no if he can’t improve the eventual trade deal with legislative protections and since he’s up for re-election I would think he has to stick to that.

    I will vote no on TPA if other trade bills that help the American middle-class – like TAA and enforcement – are not moved forward.

    TAA is funding for displaced workers and disrupted communities. They’ve never been able to explain why people would need “assistance” what with all the “millions of middle class jobs” created (according to Rubio- it’s now at “millions” up from hundreds of thousands just last week) as a result of the trade deal, but whatever.

  52. 52.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 14, 2015 at 8:13 am

    @ThresherK: It was brilliant that the mom and grandmother could even hear the word “republican” – the writing is strong on this show.

    I really believe it starts with the writers. No matter how charming or talented the actors are, if they have nothing to work with, there is nothing.

    Cristella was cancelled. I thought it was a horrible show and a waste of her talents.

  53. 53.

    Cervantes

    May 14, 2015 at 8:14 am

    @Raven:

    Good luck. See you at the other end.

  54. 54.

    ThresherK

    May 14, 2015 at 8:23 am

    @Germy Shoemangler: Ohh, yeah. “A Publican?” That’s a word I only learned from the legend of the Wiltshire Moonrakers (h/t Swindon’s own XTC) before the whole Ye Olde British Pub trend started again in the US.

    Maybe the next show with Cristela will be the one. Margaret Cho’s “All American Girl”, some two decades ago, was also a missed opportunity.

  55. 55.

    Southern Beale

    May 14, 2015 at 8:25 am

    Ha ha ha ha ha … does the GOP clown car have room for one more? I hope so!

  56. 56.

    MomSense

    May 14, 2015 at 8:27 am

    @David Koch:

    I notice that a 19 year old student without benefit of staff, research team, or budget is able to do a better job than the professional journalists at asking relevant questions to a probable candidate for president.

  57. 57.

    Svensker

    May 14, 2015 at 8:32 am

    @Raven:

    Best wishes!

    The Repub hatred for trains is weird. Since I live in the NE, the need for trains is obvious — no way I’m commuting into NYC in a CAR. In a discussion with some wingnut family members and their friends and when I said trains were better than cars in some circumstances, I was told I obviously did not understand FREEDOM! ! ! ! Guess all those banksters commuting to Wall Street on the train are sockalists, too. Who knew?

  58. 58.

    chopper

    May 14, 2015 at 8:34 am

    @Southern Beale:

    the GOP clown car is like a tardis on wheels. there’s always room for another.

  59. 59.

    ThresherK

    May 14, 2015 at 8:34 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Not that I paid any attention to American Idol for its first years, but I did sorta wonder how its highest-profile contestants changed, over the seasons, from melisma-warblers to faux-country sorts.

    (PS I grew up one town over from this season’s winner. The TV news, not just the local Fox affiliate, has been beating us over the head with this guy’s exploits for a month.)

  60. 60.

    dmsilev

    May 14, 2015 at 8:36 am

    @Southern Beale: Moar clowns! And Bolton certainly is a clown.

  61. 61.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 14, 2015 at 8:36 am

    @ThresherK: And the runner up (Clay Aiken) became more famous and got more attention than the guy (Ruben Studdard) who beat him? Wonder Why?

  62. 62.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 14, 2015 at 8:41 am

    @ThresherK: You’ll like this: Somebody put together a clip of John Lennon auditioning unsuccessfully for “The Voice”

  63. 63.

    Cervantes

    May 14, 2015 at 8:42 am

    @MomSense:

    It’s all in the countertops.

  64. 64.

    Cervantes

    May 14, 2015 at 8:44 am

    @dmsilev:

    If by “clown” we mean “genocidal psychopath.”

  65. 65.

    rikyrah

    May 14, 2015 at 8:46 am

    Good Morning, Everyone :)

  66. 66.

    sharl

    May 14, 2015 at 8:47 am

    @Southern Beale: Ehhhxcellent

  67. 67.

    MomSense

    May 14, 2015 at 8:49 am

    @Cervantes:

    Who knew granite was such powerful stuff?

    @Raven:

    Sending good thoughts your way.

  68. 68.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 14, 2015 at 8:51 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning to you

  69. 69.

    gene108

    May 14, 2015 at 8:55 am

    @Sherparick:

    1) close down all mass transportation (after all only Those People use it)

    Effective mass transit is one way to lift poor people out of poverty / off government assistance because getting too and from work, when you cannot afford a car and/or a tank of gas makes a material difference in your life can hurt you financially more than it helps you and thus discourages you to look for work.

    It’s just another way to hurt poor people in the name of freedom.

  70. 70.

    gene108

    May 14, 2015 at 9:00 am

    @MomSense:

    I notice that a 19 year old student without benefit of staff, research team, or budget is able to do a better job than the professional journalists at asking relevant questions to a probable candidate for president.

    But what you fail to note is how much more access will she have to John Ellis? He did not stick around for a follow-up question, let alone – hypothetically, of course – block a half-hour of his precious time for an exclusive one-on-one interview.

    When your job is to report on politicians “stars” and their whacky personalities and how they live the good life, you cannot afford to alienate your subject matter.

    Imagine if Jane Goodall spent her time asking tough questions to the chimps she was studying, she may have gotten some info once, but the chimps would not let her hang around for long, thus ending a promising young career.

    And yes, I am comparing John Ellis to chimps.

  71. 71.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 14, 2015 at 9:03 am

    @gene108: The chimps originally wanted Chuck Todd, from what I understand.
    Jane was their second choice.

  72. 72.

    GxB

    May 14, 2015 at 9:05 am

    @Cervantes: John “Pennywise” Bolton it is then.

  73. 73.

    MomSense

    May 14, 2015 at 9:08 am

    @Southern Beale:

    I hope his pr0n stache has its own twitter account.

  74. 74.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 14, 2015 at 9:09 am

    @GxB: Here is his twitter page. What a man!

    Just what we need as president. A short-tempered ex-diplomat.

    Isn’t that like a steak-eating vegetarian?

  75. 75.

    rikyrah

    May 14, 2015 at 9:10 am

    just dust in my eyes…

    just dust…yeah, that’s it.
    …………….

    Elderly Man Called 911 for Food Because He Couldn’t Move

    May 13, 2015, 11:35 AM ET

    By SYDNEY LUPKIN
    via Good Morning America

    An elderly man who’d just returned home after months in the hospital said he was hungry, had no food and no one to turn to for help. So he dialed 911.

    “I can’t do anything. I can’t go anywhere. I can’t get out of my damn chair.” Clarence Blackmon, 81, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, told the 911 operator, according to ABC station WTVD in Durham.

    “I said, ‘I’m not broken, I’m not bleeding, and I’m not in crisis. I just want somebody to help me buy some food,'” he told ABC News.

    What the 911 operator did next will melt your heart.

    “He was hungry,” 911 operator Marilyn Hinson told WTVD. “I’ve been hungry. A lot of people can’t say that, but I can, and I can’t stand for anyone to be hungry.”

    An hour and a half later, Hinson showed up at Blackmon’s door, carrying a box of groceries, Blackmon told ABC News. She had all his favorites: a head of cabbage, green beans, pickled beets and Pepsi. And then she stayed and made him a few ham sandwiches.

    “I was overwhelmed,” Blackmon said.

    Blackmon had a stroke about a year and a half ago and said 911 operators saved his life, he said. He spent the past six months in a rehabilitation facility. He told WTVD he’s also battling cancer.

    Hinson gave him her number and told him to call if he needs anything.

    “She is such a delightful lady,” Blackmon said. “It’s amazing. Us little people need a helping hand every once in a while. Most of the time, we get overlooked. We’re still here

    http://abcnews.go.com/Health/elderly-man-called-911-food-move/story?id=31003159

  76. 76.

    rikyrah

    May 14, 2015 at 9:13 am

    black twitter for the win.

    I literally am LMAO

    ……………………….

    Naserati ‏@Nazzy91 2m2 minutes ago
    Ben Carson’s teeth fell out trying to eat grits. ?? A black man got rejected by a plate of grits… The ancestors have spoken.

    @Natural_OneDurr Ben Carson’s teeth decided they wanna be separate but equal to his mouth on this fine Wednesday

    @MatthewACherry: Ben Carson lost his teeth in a plate of grits. First Zimmerman than this. Karma is on a roll this week boy I tell you.

    Bruschetta Jenner ‏@singerboi3890
    Ben Carson’s own teeth couldn’t even handle the nonsense that was coming out of his mouth.

    I am Solo. ‏@SoloExMachina
    Ben Carson’s teeth need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps smh

  77. 77.

    Kathleen

    May 14, 2015 at 9:13 am

    @rikyrah: Good Morning, rikyrah.

  78. 78.

    boatboy_srq

    May 14, 2015 at 9:15 am

    @Zinsky: Frum’s not much better. Look at all the states that refused stimulus money – including rail improvements (Governor Voldemort for example) – or used stimulus spending to cut their own states’ expenditures. And of the $800B he waves around like a red flag, only about 550B was actual spending, and of that a mere 12B was earmarked for transit nationwide (rail, subway, bus and everything). That’s hardly enough to overhaul a single metro area’s transit, and nowhere near enough to address the horrific shape that US trackways were/are in. But of course big numbers are always good to scare the Taxed Enough Already, because it means that all those dollars are going to all Those People. Telling, isn’t it, that a “speeding train” accident in the US looks remarkably like an incident two years ago in Spain – where the train was traveling much faster?

    Slightly OT: has anyone ridden Amtrak recently? The Auto Train may be new rolling stock but it feels like something out of the late 60s (as of my last ride 4 years ago), and the northern corridor (which I took last year) may look/feel newer but mid-70s look-and-feel isn’t an especial improvement. Zoellner is right: not only was the US disinterested in mass transit postwar but there’s been no real push to make improvements since then. I’m actually surprised DC Metro got backing to start replacing all the FSM-awful rolling stock it has – and even so the new stuff pales in comparison to the London Underground’s new designs.

  79. 79.

    Kathleen

    May 14, 2015 at 9:17 am

    @Germy Shoemangler: Yes, but, but, investigating and reporting on true causes is hard work. Also, too, if you push too hard on the infrastructure being the problem it won’t come back to your show again so there’s that.

  80. 80.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 14, 2015 at 9:22 am

    @gene108:

    And yes, I am comparing John Ellis to chimps.

    Why do you hate chimps?

  81. 81.

    sharl

    May 14, 2015 at 9:28 am

    @rikyrah: Hahahaha, sweet jeebus I love Black Twitter.

  82. 82.

    boatboy_srq

    May 14, 2015 at 9:30 am

    @Svensker: True Freedumb-Loving Real Patriotic Ahmurrcans™ don’t live in Soshulist paradises like New York or San Francisco where transit is not only desirable but necessary: they’re found in places like Atlanta, Houston, and other sprawling metro areas where cars are a necessary and proper part of life. TFLRPAs can’t survive without their gated communities and McMansions with lush lawns and three-car garages. Chances are none of them have been to one of the older, more compact urban areas – and if they have they’ve complained bitterly about how shoddy the transit is and why-doesn’t-somebody-do-something. The disconnect is jarring sometimes: the same people in Beltwayland who whinge about buses and Those People are the ones buying big homes in Leesburg, Purcellville and Aldie, driving to the nearest Metro parking tower or Park-n-Ride lot, boarding the Orange and Silver lines and complaining all the way into the District about how horrible the trains are. It’s very telling that the same congresscritters who are allergic to mass transit do nothing to help DC with either Metro or streets: driving in The District is an exercise in frustration from the street conditions as much as the traffic and Metro is an embarrassment. Congress rolls around in Yukons/Suburbans not just for the armor but for the tougher suspensions as well, and chances are none of the GOTea delegation has set foot on Metro even once. Every other national capital treats its transit system as one of the city’s crown jewels; DC treats its system like cheap costume jewelry.

    @Raven: Best wishes for a painless and successful procedure.

  83. 83.

    Patrick

    May 14, 2015 at 9:32 am

    Amtrak’s killed more people than fracking. Guess which one the Left wants to subsidize.

    So does Mr Erickson also want to stop subsiding air travel and automobile travel (I assume he does realize that these are heavily subsidized)? It is amazing that the rest of the world is so more advanced when it comes to train travel than the US.

  84. 84.

    boatboy_srq

    May 14, 2015 at 9:48 am

    @Patrick: Death by Amtrak is fairly immediate. Death by fracking takes decades of exposure. Apparently poisoning people for a (shortened) lifetime doesn’t bother the Son of Erick. Then again, poisoning workers over a (compressed) lifetime didn’t bother 19th century industrialists, either.

  85. 85.

    NotMax

    May 14, 2015 at 9:50 am

    @boatboy_srq

    Dunno if you recall it, but decades and decades ago there was consideration given to one company’s (Japanese, IIRC) bid to provide new cars for the NYC subway – cars without any seats.

    100+ years of operation, and the Long Island Rail Road still has parts of some routes which have never been electrified.

  86. 86.

    low-tech cyclist

    May 14, 2015 at 9:53 am

    Not Every Idiot Is A Republican, But Every Republican…

    How true, and those tweets say it loud.

    Frum should be smart enough to know about the stimulus – starting with the fact that nearly 40% of it was tax cuts (Obama’s first instance of negotiating with himself, btw), and ultimately concluding with Republicans in a whole bunch of states (FL, NJ, OH, and WI come to mind) turning down stimulus money for rail projects.

    And Erick, dude, you could have just as correctly said, “Highways have killed way more people than tiddlywinks, and guess which one the Right has a long history of subsidizing.” Stupid comparisons from a stupid person.

    Fat, dumb, and stupid is no way to go through life, son; getting drunk might actually help.

  87. 87.

    Germy Shoemangler

    May 14, 2015 at 10:08 am

    Beyoncé made an appearance at a Clinton fundraiser.

  88. 88.

    Randy P

    May 14, 2015 at 10:14 am

    @boatboy_srq: I ride Amtrak daily and the train is full of daily commuters, especially heading to Baltimore and DC.

    I’ve noticed the ride getting noticeably rougher over the last year, which says to me there are issues with track maintenance. The ride is tough enough that at times you’re unable to hold a cursor stil long enough to click something on screen, and I’m perpetually worried about the drink going off the edge of the table as it slides around.

    There also seems to be a signal outage bad enough to cause delays of 1-2 hrs every fewonths.

  89. 89.

    Tripod

    May 14, 2015 at 10:18 am

    Apparently Casey Jones tried to take a 50mph curve at 100.

    That WP guy is wrong.

    Stop ret-coning Dick Nixon into the last true liberal. He signed the Amtrak bill so the freight railroads wouldn’t have to pay the bills, and for the orderly elimination of all passenger service sometime in his second term. No one thought that pile of parts would ever be profitable. That’s a GOP fantasy invented in the last twenty years to screw with the funding.

    Boston-Washington is what it is, and appointing a HSR Robert Moses to bulldoze a new right-of-way through the most densely packed piece of America is a political non-starter.

    The biggest difference between Western Europe, Japan and the US is the transport geography. Everything there is less than 500 miles away – great for rail. A lot of the city pairs in the US are just too long of a haul, so you lose the benefits of a system, and end up with regional service islands and a minimal national network between them.

  90. 90.

    rikyrah

    May 14, 2015 at 10:24 am

    uh huh

    uh huh

    but, the GOP talks about Maria, Rosa and Lupe crossing the Rio Grande.

    …………………………………

    Chinese Maternity Tourists and the Business of Being Born American

    Inside the Homeland Security crackdown on deluxe services helping Chinese women have American babies

    iona He gave birth to her second child, a boy, on Jan. 24, 2015, at Pomona Valley Hospital in Southern California. The staff was friendly, the delivery uncomplicated, and the baby healthy. He, a citizen of China, left the hospital confident she had made the right decision to come to America to have her baby.

    She’d arrived in November as a customer of USA Happy Baby, one of an increasing number of agencies that bring pregnant Chinese women to the States. Like most of them, Happy Baby is a deluxe service that ushers the women through the visa process and cares for them before and after delivery.

    There are many reasons to have a baby in the U.S. The air is cleaner, the doctors generally are better, and pain medication is dispensed more readily. Couples can evade China’s one-child policy, because they don’t have to register the birth with local authorities. The main appeal of being a “birth tourist,” though, is that the newborn goes home with a U.S. passport. The 14th Amendment decrees that almost any child born on U.S. soil is automatically a citizen; the only exception is a child born to diplomats. He and her husband paid USA Happy Baby $50,000 to have an American son. If they had to, she says, they’d have paid more.

    After the birth, He observed yuezi, the traditional month of recovery for new mothers. She, her mother, and her 2-year-old daughter stayed in Rancho Cucamonga, a city about 40 miles east of Los Angeles. Her apartment, in a complex with a pool, fitness center, and mountain views, was rented by USA Happy Baby. Her nanny was supplied by USA Happy Baby. She ate kidney soup and pork chops with green papaya prepared by a USA Happy Baby cook. She secured her son’s U.S. birth certificate, passport, and Social Security card with USA Happy Baby’s assistance.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-13/chinese-maternity-tourists-and-the-business-of-being-born-american

  91. 91.

    catclub

    May 14, 2015 at 10:31 am

    @chopper:

    i guess we shouldn’t spend money studying cancer cause of all the people it’s killed.

    ha, ha. The GOP has forbidden research on gun violence.

  92. 92.

    Patrick

    May 14, 2015 at 10:39 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    If only the Kenyan Moslin Sochilist had renegotiated that agreement we could have kept 10K troops in Iraq on our terms.

    We were all told before the war started that it would be over in 5 months. Here’s a direct quote from Donal Rumsfeld.

    “Five days or five weeks or five months, but it certainly isn’t going to last any longer than that,” he said.
    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rumsfeld-it-would-be-a-short-war/

    If the war was going to be over in 5 months, why in the world would we need to keep 10k troops there a whopping 10 years later?????

  93. 93.

    Tommy

    May 14, 2015 at 10:42 am

    Amtrak was a former client of mine. The government and or lack of spending is telling. I am frankly stunned we have a train that can go 100 MPH.

  94. 94.

    catclub

    May 14, 2015 at 10:43 am

    @Germy Shoemangler: Positive aspects of things that are considered bad:

    Like the fact that cigarettes help attention span, I think that all the small quakes reduce the risk (however small) of a New Madrid style giant quake in the middle of Oklahoma.

  95. 95.

    catclub

    May 14, 2015 at 10:44 am

    @Tripod: I am betting the Engineer will not mention he was listening to a Grateful dead bootleg tape.

  96. 96.

    Amir Khalid

    May 14, 2015 at 10:46 am

    @Patrick:
    For the same reason America has kept troops in Europe even after the end of the Cold War: because military-industrial complex.

  97. 97.

    catclub

    May 14, 2015 at 10:47 am

    There was a terrorist attack on a bus in Pakistan, 6 heavily armed men on motorbikes killed over 40 Ismailis on the bus. You have to search for it on the google and yahoo news websites. It was front page on Juan Cole.

  98. 98.

    Betty Cracker

    May 14, 2015 at 10:47 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    This is about racism. This is about hate. Until white people (like me) are willing to face that directly, Republicans will always have cover and no argument will convince.

    Would arguing that the GOP’s tax-cutting strategy is all about white supremacy convince anyone? I don’t even think it’s true — I think racism is a tool plutocrats use to wage war on the poor, getting the white majority to do their dirty work for them.

    The ultimate aim isn’t suppression of minorities — though that’s certainly an effect. The goal is to concentrate ever greater shares of wealth and power in fewer hands.

  99. 99.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    May 14, 2015 at 10:53 am

    According to NIOSH there were 138 people killed by oil and gas extraction accidents in 2012. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, in that same year U.S. passenger rail killed 5 passengers and 0 employees. Including all Amtrak fatalities (most of which are probably suicide by train, which are in no way preventable) the Federal Rail Administration has 110 deaths attributed to Amtrak. So infinite Eriks should have looked up the stats before he spoke. Oil and gas extraction kills as many or more people than Amtrak depending on the year you look at, and certainly fewer passengers and employees are killed by Amtrak than by the oil and gas industry.

  100. 100.

    Tommy

    May 14, 2015 at 10:57 am

    Positive train control. This was a law Congress passed in 2008. Said by 2015 we had to have positive train control, to ensure trains runs at the correct speed. Congress last year passed another law saying well we’ll try it by 2020. We can’t do the basics in this nation and we ought to yell about this.

  101. 101.

    RSR

    May 14, 2015 at 11:00 am

    Crash was just a few minutes from my office; I very often drive right past the crash site if/when my wife & I carpool to work and I drop her off.

    The crash site is a junction of major freight lines with the NE corridor carrying Amtrak and regional transit. There was a train wreck there in 1943 which killed 79 (IIRC) of the Congressional Limited.

    This incident is looking like a speed factor; not a crumbling infrastructure issue, but a failure to upgrade safety. Seems to be the same issue with the MetroNorth (NYC) crash last year.

    I saw yesterday that the auto-speed limiting devices are too expensive and congress might push a deadline for installation back to 2020. SMDH

  102. 102.

    RSR

    May 14, 2015 at 11:02 am

    @Tommy:

    Positive train control. This was a law Congress passed in 2008. Said by 2015 we had to have positive train control, to ensure trains runs at the correct speed. Congress last year passed another law saying well we’ll try it by 2020. We can’t do the basics in this nation and we ought to yell about this.

    Yes, this. FFS

  103. 103.

    Kathleen

    May 14, 2015 at 11:17 am

    @boatboy_srq: My grandfather, who worked for the railroad his entire adult life (even as an Army captain in WWII) said back in the 60’s that the railroads wanted to eliminate passenger travel because freight was more profitable.

  104. 104.

    The Pale Scot

    May 14, 2015 at 11:18 am

    I love trains, ever since growing up I rode one into Hoboken on the Raritan spur, the tracks are/were lined with garages filled with classic locomotives form the 50’s on, so cool.

    It really pisses me off that the same idjiots that are cutting funding are the same idjiots that insist Amtrak continue burning thru their budget serving isolated cracker infested villages all over the country instead of running profitable lines from city to city.

  105. 105.

    Tommy

    May 14, 2015 at 11:29 am

    @Kathleen: @The Pale Scot: I mentioned I used to do a ton of work for Amtrak. They flew me, yeah I get the irony, to take their best lines. Amtrak rocks! We should be spending a lot more on rail.

    Heck my state is. I live in a town of less than 10,000 people and I have Metro line. Rail. We are almost done building a high-speed line from St. Louis to Chicago.

    We can do this …..

  106. 106.

    fuckwit

    May 14, 2015 at 11:41 am

    @ET: That’s it right there. Cars are murderous things. The number of people killed in car accidents almost certainly overwhelms the number of people killed in train accidents. Even proportionally.

  107. 107.

    someguy

    May 14, 2015 at 11:41 am

    Passenger rail works great moving people around in and between closely packed high population density areas, it’s relatively time and cost efficient. More passengers/mile. Pretty simple economics. It works for shit over long distances. We have good passenger rail in the northeast, elsewhere in the land of single story ranch houses, not so much. Japan and Western Europe on the other hand, with dense cities, minimal ‘burbs and short distances between cities, rock here.

    Freight rail works great for moving lots of stuff long distances across low population density areas. More tons/dollar. The US is at or near the top in most relevant categories for freight rail – along with other large countries that have massive low population density areas outside urban areas (China, Russia, Canada).

    Follow the money, maaaaan. Follow the money.

  108. 108.

    The Pale Scot

    May 14, 2015 at 11:53 am

    @Kathleen:

    said back in the 60’s that the railroads wanted to eliminate passenger travel because freight was more profitable.

    The investor opinion since the 50’s is that transporting people is a losing proposition, whether it be trains, planes or boats.

  109. 109.

    NotMax

    May 14, 2015 at 12:33 pm

    @Tommy

    I am frankly stunned we have a train that can go 100 MPH.

    Why? Trains pulled by steam locomotives were capable of that 80 years ago.

  110. 110.

    Bill

    May 14, 2015 at 12:35 pm

    What an absolute clown! David Frum thinks the $800 billion stimulus was for infrastructure? Actually, $291 billion was tax cuts, $264 billion went to unemployment benefits and medicaid grants, and only $261 went to “Contracts, Grants, and Loans” of which only $39 billion went to transportation, and $33 billion for other infrastructure such as broadband and rural water and waste disposal.

  111. 111.

    Tommy

    May 14, 2015 at 12:41 pm

    @The Pale Scot: That is fairly accurate if not very accurate. My grandfather made millions in the stock market. Biggest holdings. Boeing. 3M. Pfizer. CSX.

    If you asked him his investment strategy he’d said defense, plastics, drugs, transportation. We owned a lot of CSX stock. I don’t know what the stock for rail firms are now, but from the 50s until the 90s well grandfather made close to millions investing in CSX.

    Grandfather might be turning over in his grave because he loved rail travel. He was a world traveler and he taught me that. Told me we didn’t have to get to this place fast, maybe the journey was the most important part of the trip.

    I say this because if you take Amtrak from say Chicago to NYC it is far slower than taking a flight. But maybe you get off the train and go experience the world around you. Everything doesn’t have to be immediate.

  112. 112.

    Tommy

    May 14, 2015 at 12:53 pm

    This is my county and what we are doing:

    ST. CLAIR COUNTY, Ill. – With part of the tracks upgraded and a small section of the corridor enjoying service at 110 mph, Illinois Department of Transportation officials launched the second tier of the project in the Metro East with a series of public meetings Tuesday.

    St. Clair County wants high speed rail in East St. Louis, and Monday night officials put up a $500,000 carrot in hopes of getting it.

    Currently, a 15 mile stretch from Dwight to Pontiac on the Chicago end of the corridor has service at 110 mph. By 2015, IDOT hopes to have infrastructure improvements in place to support those speeds from Dwight to Alton. New stations are planned at some stops including Alton.

    That is Chicago to St. Louis. The initial funding came from the stimulus package. It took time to get functional, but we built it and we are building more. This is possible!

  113. 113.

    Citizen Alan

    May 14, 2015 at 1:14 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Or to put it more pithily, racism was a tool invented by the aristocracy to make sure the house servants and the field servants never got together and compared notes.

  114. 114.

    MCA1

    May 14, 2015 at 1:20 pm

    @Keith G: Absolutely right. I think there’s some age gap going on here, too. For most over, say, 50, the America Fuck Yea! bubble is nearly unpoppable. Why, our highway system is the envy of the world! they grew up hearing, along with being born on a planet where it was unquestioned that (less than a quarter century after the end of WWII) American industry, infrastructure and ingenuity were in a class of their own. We created commercial air travel. We paved the entire country. Our navy built ships that were a quarter mile long and could house 5,000 people. We completely redefined the way people lived by creating suburbs. They’d travel overseas and come back appalled at how grim and gray and inefficient life was in places like London and Rome, and how hard it was to get around, and go back in the ’90’s and talk about how slow they were to implement the new computing technologies we were sprouting in California. In the minds of a lot of folks, to admit that the equation’s changed is to override (or betray) everything they’ve learned their whole lives.

    For anyone under 50 who’s been to another financial center country in the last decade, it’s a different story. If you’ve actually been in the airports in Hong Kong or Seoul (where there’s a f’ing golf course and the average departure takes less than 20 minutes), if you’ve actually ridden the Shinkansen, or been to the Petronas Towers or Burj Khalifa or the Marina Bay Sands, or even just seen a modern Swedish elementary school, you know the truth. We’ve Been Passed. We don’t do big public improvement projects anymore.

    A savvy politician could marry up the facts of the matter with Americans’ deep-seated need to beat everyone at everything and be seen as the best, especially prevalent on the Republican side, and actually get something done. This sort of falling behind should scare the crap out of the national security and American exceptionalism fetishists alike. Start a twitter account called #whycan’twehavecoolshitlikethis? and every day post about something somewhere else (especially if it’s China) and answer the rhetorical question with “Because Republicans don’t want you to have it.”

  115. 115.

    Tenar Darell

    May 14, 2015 at 1:22 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: I like Blackish, but I’m really going to miss Cristela. I wish that had gotten renewed.

  116. 116.

    boatboy_srq

    May 14, 2015 at 2:36 pm

    @Kathleen: It’s as true as ever. Which is why passenger rail works best as a public resource (either publicly owned/operated as France/Germany or privately managed in a public trust as UK). Privately-held passenger rail is something freight services run as a loss leader for publicity and goodwill; in the US passenger rail gets horrible publicity regardless, and the GOTea has done a number on the potential goodwill, so there’s no much there.

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