Pete Buttigieg is apparently "the victim" in the case of the train derailment?

[DaisyDay]

 

[iluvatar5150]

lol, fails all around there. You’d think a lawyer (Jim Jordan) and a dentist (Gosar) would be a little more careful. Ditto for the journalist who described the NTSB as the “train oversight board.”

 

[Ana the Ist]

I’m familiar with the scope of the department. What I asked was what duties he’s neglected. Even if rail safety had been his #1 priority and there had been zero industry pushback on any of his proposals, the process of creating and implementing new rules for something like railroads takes years. Just writing and publishing the rules takes a couple years, then you have to actually give the railroads time to install whatever systems it is you’ve required. Two years isn’t long enough.

But to put things in some more real world context: the law requiring Positive Train Control systems was signed in 2008 and the final regulations were published in 2010, with an installation deadline in 2015. Installation was actually completed late 2020/early 2021.





That assumes that conservative griping is made in good faith and not hypocritical.

I've seen more than one person on the left who has mocked the idea of merit and promoted the idea of diversity.

I'm sorry to say this was always a catastrophically stupid position to take....but early results of the odious thinking behind it show its not working at all. The argument cynically assumes that upper management is full of straight white men through nepotism or bigotry...and if we simply insist upon anyone other than straight white men...their nepotism and bigotry will make for more equitable outcomes.

This doesn't happen because people promoted for race and sex and other superficial non-merit characteristics quickly realize their continued success depends upon them being the only ones hired for those characteristics. In other words, hire a black man because he's black and he doesn't want to hire other black men who might actually outperform him.


So DEI initiatives will never lead to DEI results. Quite the opposite....they build a sense of resentment and suspicion.

But let's be honest, the bigots arguing this stuff will never accept their reasoning is flawed.

To that end though....why wad Pete put into this position? Does he have some qualifications I'm unaware of?

Because it seems like the FAA nominee has no pilot experience nor has any clue at all about basic flight regulations. He is black though, but I doubt that will help if airplanes start crashing or falling from the sky.

 

[essentialsaltes]

I think this is one where both progressives and conservatives should be able to find some common ground here.

Haha, no.

GOP discord threatens Senate response to railway disaster​

Sen. J.D. Vance insists the support is there. His colleagues say the bill needs significant changes before it could get enough GOP backing.

Top Republicans aren’t currently lifting a finger to help the rail bill, which is two GOP senators short of 60 votes and even more votes short of having a chance in the GOP-controlled House. (All told, seven Republicans publicly support it.)

The rail safety divide within the Republican Party is a microcosm of its realignment over the past few years: Former President Donald Trump supports it, but other than Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), the effort gets almost all its GOP support from the party’s small yet growing populist wing. And unless the party’s establishment gets more fully on board, the safety plan Vance shaped with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) may stall out.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said publicly this week that he’s undecided on the bill, but many of his allies view the proposal’s new requirements for rail staffing and inspection as anathema to the party’s long-held small-government stance. As Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) put it: “It seems like it’s just too much government regulation.”

Laissez faire capitalism enables trains to attain maximal freedom. Why should they be constrained to the rails when they can enjoy the freedom to run wild on the broad landscapes of our great nation?

 

[essentialsaltes]

Laissez faire capitalism enables trains to attain maximal freedom. Why should they be constrained to the rails when they can enjoy the freedom to run wild on the broad landscapes of our great nation?

Freight train derailment in Pennsylvania prompts evacuations of nearby residents, businesses

 

[wing2000]

From the Fox news link: "CSX also said that the cause of the derailment appeared to be weather related. No additional details were immediately available."

....I wonder if the recent heavy rainstorms that impacted that area of PA were a factor? One pic shows what appears to be a small river running parallel to the tracks where the train de-railed.

 

[essentialsaltes]

GOP discord threatens Senate response to railway disaster​

6 months after the East Palestine train derailment, Congress is deadlocked on new rules for safety​

[Despite praise from President Biden and former President Trump,] Top GOP leaders in Congress have been hesitant to support [the bill], and the bill has faced some opposition from the railroad industry, which holds significant sway in Washington.

 

[Pommer]

6 months after the East Palestine train derailment, Congress is deadlocked on new rules for safety​

[Despite praise from President Biden and former President Trump,] Top GOP leaders in Congress have been hesitant to support [the bill], and the bill has faced some opposition from the railroad industry, which holds significant sway in Washington.

Apparently the GOP “leads” by following what the lobbyists say.

 

[essentialsaltes]

6 months after the East Palestine train derailment, Congress is deadlocked on new rules for safety​

Coming up on 6 months after the bill was referred to a House subcommittee, where it's sat without action.

Federal railroad inspectors find alarming number of defects on Union Pacific this summer​

Bose said the 19.93% defect rate on rail cars and the 72.69% rate for locomotives that inspectors found in July and August are both twice the national average.

 

[essentialsaltes]

6 months after the East Palestine train derailment, Congress is deadlocked on new rules for safety​

[Despite praise from President Biden and former President Trump,] Top GOP leaders in Congress have been hesitant to support [the bill], and the bill has faced some opposition from the railroad industry, which holds significant sway in Washington.

9 months afterward, no action has been taken. It's starting to look like there will be no Railway Safety Act of 2023.

Kentucky governor declares emergency and evacuation encouraged after derailed train spills molten sulfur near Livingston​

More than a dozen freight train cars derailed in central Kentucky Wednesday, spilling molten sulfur and sparking a fire, officials said, prompting authorities to encourage residents of a nearby town to evacuate on the eve of Thanksgiving.

The crash led officials to shut down US 25 in both directions from the Laurel County line to Calloway Branch Road, and it’s unclear when it will reopen, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet for District 8 said in a social media post Wednesday evening.

Linda Todd said she evacuated her Livingston home after she was warned of safety concerns.

“I was freaking out because I said, ‘We are cooking, we got turkeys in the ovens. We can’t leave.’ They were like, ‘You have to go, it is a bad situation. You have to go,” Todd told CNN affiliate WYMT.

Maybe Kentucky Sulfured Turkey will become a thing?