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  • March 16, 2016 at 9:01 pm
    Spin Drift

    The democraps “back to the future with trains.” Just remember what Jesse James said “there comes a time in every job when you just have to shoot the engineer.”

    Spin
    TrusTed

    • March 16, 2016 at 9:34 pm
      interventor

      Trains are great for moving freight, not people.

      • March 16, 2016 at 10:12 pm
        eon

        Trains are great for ensuring that people only move as and when their “betters” want them to. And for letting their “betters” keep them under surveillance to ensure that they’re perusing an approved publication like the Utne Reader as opposed to, say, Guns Magazine.

        Mass transit in any form is an instrument of social control, not efficient movement. And any SecTrans or other “public servant” who says, as Ray LaHood did, that his job is to “coerce people out of their cars and onto public transportation” should be not merely fired but sent to Supermax for thirty years hard.

        In fact, any official who uses the term “coerce” re what he or she wants to do to the law-abiding citizenry should get life at hard labor, no matter what the context. That might remind a few of them exactly who is supposed to be running the show.

        clear ether

        eon

      • March 17, 2016 at 12:04 am

        I can’t find the link, but I think it was about a year ago that I read about a plan being discussed in the California legislature.
        They wanted to keep businesses in CA.
        The plan was that any corporation that left CA would have to surrender it’s physical assets to the State.
        Buildings, machinery, everything.
        Someone pointed out that while that might keep existing corporations in the state, CA would see no new ones. Ever.

      • March 17, 2016 at 12:16 am
        interventor

        Doubt such a law would pass legal muster.

      • March 17, 2016 at 5:40 am
        Bill G

        Moonbeam is going to need his wall. Not necessarily to keep Donny Boy out, but to keep taxpayers in.

      • March 17, 2016 at 8:59 am
        B Woodman

        (Company): “We’re moving out of Kalifornication.”
        (Kali): “You must surrender your physical assets to the state.”
        (Company): “We haven’t move out yet. They’re still our company assets.” BOOM! “We’re gone. It’s all yours. There ya go. Have a nice day playing in the rubble. Bye.”

      • March 17, 2016 at 5:51 am
        David M

        I like your idea about “coerce”… Makes a good plank for the party to replace the GOP which one of us needs to start…

      • March 17, 2016 at 6:39 am
        GWB

        Have to disagree about prison, eon. The consequence should entail a tall, sturdy oak tree and some stacked ballot boxes. There’s one or two other things necessary, but I probably don’t need to list them.

      • March 17, 2016 at 10:13 am
        JimBob7

        Rope, tree, bureaucrat; some assembly required.

      • March 17, 2016 at 6:58 am
        Brasspounder

        The left’s enthusiasm for trains may have its roots in the collective memory of efficient transport to Treblinka, Birkenau, and the like.

      • March 17, 2016 at 9:52 am
        Arkelk

        I agree that trains are great for moving freight.

        There are some places where it makes sense to have passenger rail, though. The Northeast Corridor (Washington, DC, to Boston, Mass.) has short enough distances and enough people for it to make sense. High speed rail, if enough room for dedicated tracks could be found, would make sense there. That might be the only area, though.

      • March 17, 2016 at 10:29 am

        If it makes enough sense that it would be profitable let the private sector build and administer them…I don’t give a fuck how many gov peons want to move back and forth from Beantown to DC, I don’t want to pay for it because I wouldn’t go to either place on a bet.

        How is it different from air transport? As effed up as the airlines are (in no small part thanks to gov regs and “safety” barriers), can you imagine if fedgov were operating the them?

        “FedAir, all the efficiency of Amtrak, the Post Office and TSA, for when you really really hope to get there sometime”

      • March 17, 2016 at 10:37 am

        Heh. Writing that reminded me of an old post at the long dormant blog regarding Bobo’s coup of healthcare…same principle with the predicted results.

        http://poetnthepawnbroker.blogspot.com/2009/08/healthcaregov-post-office-of-medical.html

      • March 17, 2016 at 7:58 pm
        interventor

        That BoWash route and one out of Tokyo are the only two passenger routes that pay for themselves.

  • March 16, 2016 at 9:17 pm
    Kafiroon

    The various scams always pay off for some politicians and their cronies. They All need our money. None of theirs.

  • March 16, 2016 at 9:26 pm
    Polly Cy

    That’s definitely a springtime on the prairie sky. Bit of an early start for tornado season, though. Hope our heroes aren’t in for a spell of bad weather. Seems like whenever they get out on that highway, something bad happens.

  • March 16, 2016 at 9:33 pm
    interventor

    If Gov Moonbeam builds a wall, it will be to keep people from escaping like the Berlin Wall.

  • March 16, 2016 at 9:55 pm
    Ozymandias

    “Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even when there is no river”

    • March 16, 2016 at 10:14 pm
      WayneM

      Oh, I like that one!!

      • March 16, 2016 at 10:54 pm
        interventor

        Soviet Premier Khrushchev, I believe.

  • March 16, 2016 at 10:55 pm

    Gov of Fla flat turned down a bazillion budgeted bucks for a zip train down the center of I-4 from Tampa to Orlando and the powers that be went apoplectic that he wouldn’t take “free” fed money due to concerns that the state would be on the hook for overruns and subsidizing a money-loser…sure pissed off the “attractions” who would have benefited almost exclusively. Took balls to stick to his principles like that; politicians are programmed to bring home the bacon.

    Course he wasn’t a politician, came straight out of biz and took some heat for exploiting legalities and programs to benefit himself, his biz, and his stockholders. Now who else do we know who fits that mold?

    Scott term limits out this year and has been mentioned as a veep possibility, and he is perfectly experienced and attuned to dismantling the socialist health care boondoggle, but he wouldn’t do much to balance the ticket, background a little too similar to the boss. But he’s been a good gov and I like him, somewhat to my surprise. A lot of people might find themselves surprised at the good that would come from a Trump admin too.

    • March 16, 2016 at 11:55 pm

      Correction: Scott terms out in ’18, though I’m sure he’d bail to be veep. Not in the cards though, for the reasons I mentioned above, and others.

    • March 17, 2016 at 12:42 am

      TANSTAAFL.

      • March 17, 2016 at 5:49 am
        David M

        Bingo!

    • March 17, 2016 at 7:18 am
      praiserock

      I remember the train boondoggle. They couldn’t even project profitability. Every rider would have to be subsidized. No thanks.

      Tampa tried to pull a similar stupid trick with a train from New Tampa. Some of my co-workers thought it was a great idea. What did they know, they voted for the Empty Suit twice.

      Anyway, they never could answer the questions of who, why, what.
      “Who was going to pay for ongoing revenue shortages?” (which were projected into forever)
      “Why should I have to subsidize your transportation to and from work?”
      “What’s the benefit to the community in subsidizing transportation for a few hundred people?”

      • March 17, 2016 at 9:44 am
        Bill

        Its all free dude. They never answer those questions because to do so would be admitting it doesn’t work financially. Not even break even. What stumps me is how can most people not see the financial train wreck coming? No pun intended.

      • March 17, 2016 at 11:45 am
        Old Codger

        They keep trying that here in San Antonio. Light Rail! People keep voting the bonds to build it. And they just keep on trying (what’s that definition in insanity again?)

        We have a pretty good bus system here but it needs tax money to keep it solvent.. Come visit San Antone! Help keep our mass transit system running. You’ll never feel the bite in your hotel bill.

    • March 17, 2016 at 8:02 am
      eon

      Here in OH Kasich cancelled the “high-speed light rail” project running from Cleveland to Cincinatti via Columbus, on the grounds that it would never have enough customers to pay for itself. He also tried to return the $400m in Fed matching funds to start it, because actual business consultants here (as opposed to ones in DC, NYC, etc.) calculated that our end would be somewhere on the high side of $2bn rather than the $450-500m The One and LaHood were insisting was correct.

      He was told, “shut up and build it”. It seems that major Dem supporters here had already bought up land along the intended RoW and were ready to sell it to the state (at an inflated price, of course). The unions (Teamsters, etc.) were also up, having been prepared for sweetheart contracts for construction, maintenance, and of course running it while insulting the passengers and overcharging them for snacks (see Amtrak).

      Among other things, the previous Dem gov (Ted Strickland, now running for U.S. Senate- God save the mark), had been “on board” with it, and when told that there was no way the train could be “high speed” (over 50 MPH) on the existing B&O track he wanted to eminent domain for it, said that they’d just restrict all other trains in the state to under 20 MPH to make it look “high-speed” at 30.

      This is actually a trick governors used to pull on the railways a hundred and fifty years ago, restricting their speeds for “safety reasons” unless they paid a “safety bond”. On a monthly or even weekly basis.

      ICC takes a very dim view of such extortion. Dim enough that it’s actually a Federal offense for any state to “decree” rail speeds within its boundaries.

      After being told “build it or else”, Kasich said, “We don’t need it. wWe need to improve our roads and bridges, especially those on the Interstates. Can we use the money for that?”

      He was told, “Roads and bridges are reactionary. Build the train or we’ll see you in court!”

      He replied, “Bring it on”.

      They didn’t.

      I don’t know what happened to the money. But when he was OH State Treasurer under Strickland, Richard Cordray (now head of the Federal Consumer Finance Protection Bureau ) somehow managed to “lose” $50m out of the state budget. Then Strickland made him State AG, and ordered him to “investigate” the loss that occurred when he was Treasurer. Needless to say, no evidence of wrongdoing- or the money itself- was found.

      Say what you like about Kasich, but he can at least balance a checkbook.

      cheers

      eon

      • March 17, 2016 at 8:55 am

        Ohio’s money, and Wisconsin’s, went to the Fla kitty and there was $2.4B sitting there for Obama’s “signature” shovel-ready high speed line (dubbed the Disney monorail extension by some). Where the money went after Scott said no, who knows? Supposed “distributed nationwide” toward 53 BILLION of your dollars that Zippy had promised to “invest”.

        I don’t know what happened to the TP movement that Scott, Walker, and Kacinich personified…but these three had/have balls and the courage of their convictions and should be recognized for it in a new admin rather than being overshadowed and swallowed up by the train they couldn’t or didn’t want to (in the case of Scott, he really likes DT)…the TrumpTrain. They were frontline soldiers in the movement and deserve recognition for it.

      • March 17, 2016 at 10:52 am

        Kasich, not Kacinich, guess I was thinking of the other erstwhile Buckeye prez candidate, that POS Dennis Kucinich…makes Kasich look like Reagan.

  • March 16, 2016 at 11:20 pm
    Pamela

    Brown screwed the State the first time around and he is doing it again.
    With the money for the crazy train, we could put in desalination plants to take care of the dry years. And rebuild the roads.
    Stop the free stuff and no need for a wall.

    • March 16, 2016 at 11:49 pm

      Yeah, unfortunately Pamela that redistribution would make too much sense, therefore that ain’t how it works. I wrote that first bit above from memory from when Scott first took office, but this article fleshes it out; Scott was a charter member of the I HATE ZERO movement; Scott Walker and Kasich played into that scenario back then too…I had forgotten about that, good on all of them.

      http://swampland.time.com/2011/02/16/floridas-rick-scott-sends-high-speed-rail-packing/

    • March 17, 2016 at 4:22 am
      RegT

      There was a bumper sticker made during Brown’s first time around- “Governor Brown’s Space Program: $6 million dollars spent exploring Uranus.”

  • March 16, 2016 at 11:37 pm
    Alaska Paul

    There is a whole lot of stupid going on, like an influenza epidemic.

  • March 17, 2016 at 12:43 am

    Frame 2? Exactly.

  • March 17, 2016 at 12:45 am

    There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. ^

  • March 17, 2016 at 12:48 am
    K-9

    TANJ.

    • March 17, 2016 at 6:01 am
      David M

      There Ain’t No Justice?

      As long as Hitlery remains free it certainly seems like your thesis is proven. I’ve had security clearances, I know what the law says happens to me if I’d done what she has done. And it is pretty clear the whole concept of “equality under the law” has been tossed under the proverbial public transportation vehicle…

      The only good thing her current freedom is doing is foiling the fever dreams of wastrel millennials & Chairman Sanders…

      But Grrrrr… Methinks it is about time for Shakespeare… “Cry Havoc and let loose the Dogs of war…”

      • March 17, 2016 at 11:54 am
        Old Codger

        David, we both know what would have happened to us (I held a “Secret” for 10 years) if we did what Cankles or Henry Cisneros did. We would get an all expenses paid trip to central Kansas where we would have an opportunity to become VERY proficient at turning boulders into gravel.

        TANJ it is.

      • March 17, 2016 at 4:32 pm
        David M

        Yes indeed Mr Codger sir… Yes indeed…

  • March 17, 2016 at 1:16 am
    Iconoclast

    One of the great things about DbD is the frequency of my exposure to new (to me) words, quotes & history. Today was number 2. Thanks, Chris!

  • March 17, 2016 at 3:31 am
    Grape

    There is a Himacain brewing.

  • March 17, 2016 at 5:39 am
    MasterDiver

    The politicians still think they can conduct business as usual, not realizing that the Internet and alternative media let “the peasants” go back to examine the record of who said exactly what, and how much would it cost, and who would pick up the tab. Hillary has been especially slow at this, and is still trying to use the old gambit of “stall until no one remembers”, but that doesn’t work when a few keystrokes can pull up information, especially video, from past decades. Back-room deals can still be made, but they cannot be hidden from the public anywhere near as well as even five years ago, despite efforts to thwart FOIA.

  • March 17, 2016 at 5:45 am
    Bill G

    The left always comes down to needing a wall.
    If only after their revolution.

    • March 17, 2016 at 6:44 am
      GWB

      You have to have one to put the counter-revolutionaries up against, doncha know.

      • March 17, 2016 at 8:06 am
        eon

        ‘Dobe-walling is a feature of leftist revolutions, not a bug. In fact, for a lot of them, it’s the whole reason; they just like killing, viewing it as better than sex.

        Nazis weren’t the only psychos in the basket.

        clear ether

        eon

      • March 17, 2016 at 8:03 pm
        interventor

        Nazis learned most of their nasty from the Soviets.

  • March 17, 2016 at 7:50 am
    Unca Walt

    I WISH Sam would put a seatbelt on. She’s valuable.

    • March 17, 2016 at 3:51 pm
      S Hooks

      She’s beyond valuable; she’s precious.

  • March 17, 2016 at 8:01 am
    NotYetInACamp

    So, The border patrol finish the coyote’s smuggling per obama’s?

    I wondered where they used all of that money they got for the wall that was not put up?

    The progressive effort has been to tie up all current expenditures and dedicate all future expenditures by projects that use all future cash flows to pay off bonds issued.
    Then as much cash is removed from the private sector and controlled by those who set up the deals.
    This expands central control and reduces the ability to spend money, act, or make decisions by the general populous.
    Such have they done in so much of the economy.
    There is more, but that makes this point.
    Socialist crony central control of as much of power and money is achieved.

    Nice woman.
    Nice truck.
    No wall.

  • March 17, 2016 at 9:25 am
    Storm Saxon's Gall Bladder

    I don’t really expect that a Trump Promise ™
    is any more reliable than any other politician’s promise;
    but a metaphorical wall across the southern border, a wall made
    of Laws That We Actually Enforce would be good enough for me.

    • March 17, 2016 at 10:57 am
      H_B

      Even if he reneged on every promise, if he manages to batter down the restrictions of Political Correctness we will be the better for it as a polity.

      • March 17, 2016 at 11:57 am
        Old Codger

        And how would he accomplish that miracle? Hmmmm?

      • March 17, 2016 at 2:27 pm

        By (very successful) example, apparently. 🙂

    • March 17, 2016 at 8:36 pm
      NotYetInACamp

      Enforcing the laws right along would have prevented most of the current problems. Ted Kennedy’s ramrodded Immigration law would still have created some, but nothing like what the no enforcement, under-enforcement, and changes by legal and illegal means has done.
      Yu have the right idea about law being enforced. That’s a novelty to many in the current administration and political establishment.

  • March 17, 2016 at 9:55 am
    Spin Drift

    A little bit of real world perspective, the Minneapolis/St Paul light rail line is getting some new trains. The contract for the rail cars went to a Chinese company. Go figure.

    By the way, Mpls/St P had one of the better bus systems in the country already. Also when the light rail started last summer there were 6 car train collisions in the first week.

    Spin
    As they say in Minnesotastan: Allah-board to the future!
    TrusTed
    War Damn Eagle

  • March 17, 2016 at 9:58 am

    Bullet train or slow train, they’re all unmaneuvable. They either go where they were built to go, or go nowhere.

  • March 17, 2016 at 10:59 am

    Sorry about the multiple comments Chris, but your material does that to me…your title of this episode reminds me of this:

    In an old Johnny Hart B.C. comic, caveman customer goes up to the caveman pawnbroker’s counter and asks “What gives things value?” to which caveman pawnbroker replies “Rarity.” and the customer goes “Wow, I’ll bet gold is number one on the list!” then the pawnbroker says “Nope, kept campaign promises are number one.”

    Words of hard-learned wisdom.

  • March 17, 2016 at 1:49 pm
    TB

    Judging by the statistics, like any People’s Republic, Brown probably needs a wall to keep native Californians in.

  • March 17, 2016 at 1:56 pm
    steveb919

    In the coming election anybody but a Democrap.

  • March 17, 2016 at 4:06 pm

    I pretty much hate all clowns, but this is the scariest bunch I’ve ever seen:

    https://www.youtube.com/embed/osYZ1uZasN8

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