Author Topic: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?  (Read 8094 times)

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #25 on: May 16, 2015, 11:11:31 AM »
If a guy can drive a literal train full of people into a 50mph zone at 100mph in the year 2015, that's very much an infrastructure problem.

Wut?

The train should have slowed itself down.

That's a libtard "you can't replace jobs with technology" thing, not an infrastructure thing.

Yeah, well Amtrak should either beat its libtard union and replace jobs with technology or stop getting public funds, then.

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #26 on: May 16, 2015, 11:28:07 AM »
There's already a regulation or something to have warning systems or something that someone outside the train can slow it down, but the tech isn't fully developed yet or something
Hyperbolic partisan duplicitous hypocrite

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #27 on: May 16, 2015, 11:50:17 AM »
If a guy can drive a literal train full of people into a 50mph zone at 100mph in the year 2015, that's very much an infrastructure problem.

Wut?

The train should have slowed itself down.

That's a libtard "you can't replace jobs with technology" thing, not an infrastructure thing.
Semantics

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #28 on: May 16, 2015, 12:03:18 PM »
Obama blamed the Republicans?

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #29 on: May 16, 2015, 12:22:31 PM »
Obama blamed the Republicans?

If you distort his words and then read between the lines, he probably did.

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #30 on: May 16, 2015, 12:35:55 PM »
Where?

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #31 on: May 16, 2015, 01:15:11 PM »
Where?

He called for increased infrastructure spending after the accident. Some people are distorting that to say he thinks the republicans aren't letting him spend enough on infrastructure, so it's their fault this happened. It's a huge stretch, but if you listen to enough talk radio, it's a fairly typical thought process among the crazies.

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #32 on: May 16, 2015, 03:22:29 PM »
That's stupid

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #33 on: May 16, 2015, 04:09:38 PM »
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/are-republicans-really-to-blame-for-fatal-amtrak-crash-2015-05-15

Quote
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The fatal Amtrak crash in Philadelphia is reverberating in the nation’s capital. Democrats say conservative opposition to more funding for Amtrak contributed to the accident, but a top Republican leader has called the argument “stupid.”

Who’s right? The evidence mostly appears to support the Republican view.

The debate revolves around a technology known as “positive train control” that could have slowed down the northbound train automatically as it approached a sharp curve at double the designated speed. The train was going 106 miles an hour when it derailed on a stretch of track with a speed limit of 50 mph, killing eight people and injuring more than 200, authorities said.

Congress authorized a nationwide PTC system in 2008, and Amtrak was actually close to finishing its installation in the northeast corridor before the crash occurred. The system has been undergoing testing and might be operable by the end of 2015, officials say.

Immediately after the crash, some Democrats in Congress and the Obama administration faulted the unwillingness of Republicans to spend money on infrastructure. They said more money would have prevented the accident.

When a reporter on Thursday began to ask House Speaker John Boehner about the Democratic accusations, he quickly interrupted.

“Are you really going to ask that stupid question?” the Ohio Republican asked. “The train was going twice the speed limit. … It’s hard for me to imagine that people take the bait on some of the nonsense that gets spewed around here.”

His response quickly drew a retort from Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, who is slated to become the top Democrat in the Senate after the 2016 election.

“Speaker Boehner’s comments are patently false,” he said. “Experts have made clear that positive train control technology could have prevented the tragedy in Philadelphia. It is simply a fact that insufficient funding for Amtrak has delayed the installation of PTC, and to deny a connection between the accident and underfunding Amtrak is to deny reality.”

The “reality” is more complicated. Some experts have backed Schumer’s assertion, but others point to a broad range of issues aside from money that have led to delays.

One big problem has been obtaining costly wireless licenses needed by Amtrak to control communications in its new safety system. Amtrak was also required to meet certain environmental and other federal standards before it could turn its new system on, adding to the delay.

What’s more, Amtrak officials themselves didn’t seem entirely aware of the danger posed the stretch of track where the accident occurred. Older braking technology that could have prevented the crash was only installed on the south side of the tracks, for instance.

“Some senior Amtrak officials did not become aware that the braking system had not been installed on the northbound side until after the train derailed,” the New York Times reported.

Another report, in the Wall Street Journal, stated that Amtrak officials didn’t think extra safety features were necessary at the site of the accident. “Officials didn’t believe the tracks leading to the curve would allow trains to build up enough speed to topple over,” the story said.

The hullabaloo over the Amtrak crash has raised concerns about overall rail safety, especially in light of other fatal accidents recently. Yet the truth is that commuter trains are extremely safe — one report has found that rail is 20 to 30 times safer than travel by auto per mile traveled.

In 2013, for example, about 350 people were killed on passenger trains, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. By contrast, some 32,719 people were killed in 2013 in road or highway accidents, a fact that hardly ever elicits comment in Washington.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, K-State fans could have beheaded the entire KU team at midcourt, and K-State fans would be celebrating it this morning.  They are the ISIS of Big 12 fanbases.

Offline K-S-U-Wildcats!

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #34 on: May 16, 2015, 04:16:51 PM »
Where?

He called for increased infrastructure spending after the accident. Some people are distorting that to say he thinks the republicans aren't letting him spend enough on infrastructure, so it's their fault this happened. It's a huge stretch, but if you listen to enough talk radio, it's a fairly typical thought process among the crazies.

That's not true. The White House specifically referred to GOP opposition to additional Amtrak funding during a press briefing. Sounds like blame game to me.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/white-house/white-house-republicans-have-blocked-investments-in-amtrak-20150513
I've said it before and I'll say it again, K-State fans could have beheaded the entire KU team at midcourt, and K-State fans would be celebrating it this morning.  They are the ISIS of Big 12 fanbases.

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #35 on: May 16, 2015, 06:53:31 PM »
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/are-republicans-really-to-blame-for-fatal-amtrak-crash-2015-05-15

Quote
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The fatal Amtrak crash in Philadelphia is reverberating in the nation’s capital. Democrats say conservative opposition to more funding for Amtrak contributed to the accident, but a top Republican leader has called the argument “stupid.”

Who’s right? The evidence mostly appears to support the Republican view.

The debate revolves around a technology known as “positive train control” that could have slowed down the northbound train automatically as it approached a sharp curve at double the designated speed. The train was going 106 miles an hour when it derailed on a stretch of track with a speed limit of 50 mph, killing eight people and injuring more than 200, authorities said.

Congress authorized a nationwide PTC system in 2008, and Amtrak was actually close to finishing its installation in the northeast corridor before the crash occurred. The system has been undergoing testing and might be operable by the end of 2015, officials say.

Immediately after the crash, some Democrats in Congress and the Obama administration faulted the unwillingness of Republicans to spend money on infrastructure. They said more money would have prevented the accident.

When a reporter on Thursday began to ask House Speaker John Boehner about the Democratic accusations, he quickly interrupted.

“Are you really going to ask that stupid question?” the Ohio Republican asked. “The train was going twice the speed limit. … It’s hard for me to imagine that people take the bait on some of the nonsense that gets spewed around here.”

His response quickly drew a retort from Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, who is slated to become the top Democrat in the Senate after the 2016 election.

“Speaker Boehner’s comments are patently false,” he said. “Experts have made clear that positive train control technology could have prevented the tragedy in Philadelphia. It is simply a fact that insufficient funding for Amtrak has delayed the installation of PTC, and to deny a connection between the accident and underfunding Amtrak is to deny reality.”

The “reality” is more complicated. Some experts have backed Schumer’s assertion, but others point to a broad range of issues aside from money that have led to delays.

One big problem has been obtaining costly wireless licenses needed by Amtrak to control communications in its new safety system. Amtrak was also required to meet certain environmental and other federal standards before it could turn its new system on, adding to the delay.

What’s more, Amtrak officials themselves didn’t seem entirely aware of the danger posed the stretch of track where the accident occurred. Older braking technology that could have prevented the crash was only installed on the south side of the tracks, for instance.

“Some senior Amtrak officials did not become aware that the braking system had not been installed on the northbound side until after the train derailed,” the New York Times reported.

Another report, in the Wall Street Journal, stated that Amtrak officials didn’t think extra safety features were necessary at the site of the accident. “Officials didn’t believe the tracks leading to the curve would allow trains to build up enough speed to topple over,” the story said.

The hullabaloo over the Amtrak crash has raised concerns about overall rail safety, especially in light of other fatal accidents recently. Yet the truth is that commuter trains are extremely safe — one report has found that rail is 20 to 30 times safer than travel by auto per mile traveled.

In 2013, for example, about 350 people were killed on passenger trains, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. By contrast, some 32,719 people were killed in 2013 in road or highway accidents, a fact that hardly ever elicits comment in Washington.

what a strange article

Offline ednksu

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #36 on: May 16, 2015, 08:47:51 PM »
Is anyone blaming a train wreck on republicans? I've only heard the usual persecution complex thing on the neocon am radio and nothing from actual people.

A lot of democrats did.

The fact that libtards think passenger trains are the future of transportation is a hilarious indictment on how backward thinking libtards are.

Yeah take that, literally all of the developed world!
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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #37 on: May 16, 2015, 09:08:32 PM »
Here is some dems blaming the republicans. Kind of long, but there is DeBlasio and the head of the NY dem party (8 min in) claiming all we need is more money.


« Last Edit: May 18, 2015, 12:53:50 PM by john "teach me how to" dougie »

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #38 on: May 18, 2015, 08:47:47 AM »
Chris Matthews has a new culprit for the Amtrak derailment - CURVES! The problem, you see, is all these darned "property rights" in America. If only we could be more like China! :shakesfist:

http://www.ijreview.com/2015/05/323192-chris-matthews-blames-track-curve-for-amtrak-crash-and-proposes-a-mind-bending-solution/

Quote
Let’s talk about the track. You take the train every night home. … You know how it’s rickety. You know it jumps around a lot. It’s like the Wild West, some parts of that route.

Do we need to have a better right-of-way? Can we clear a straight line for this train? How fast can a train go if it’s going like this?
 
But we have a country where people can complain. In Communist countries like China, they just draw a straight line, whether it goes through your house or not, it’s a straight line.

We have this Amtrak, I’ve been taking it for a half a century, it doesn’t go in a straight line. In this case, it tried to make a turn and turned over! Because there’s so many turns on that route. How do you get rid of the turns?

Libtards - this is your braintrust. We've got guys like Charles Krauthammer. You've got... Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddow. Consider that.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, K-State fans could have beheaded the entire KU team at midcourt, and K-State fans would be celebrating it this morning.  They are the ISIS of Big 12 fanbases.

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #39 on: May 18, 2015, 08:58:22 AM »
Chris Matthews has a new culprit for the Amtrak derailment - CURVES! The problem, you see, is all these darned "property rights" in America. If only we could be more like China! :shakesfist:

http://www.ijreview.com/2015/05/323192-chris-matthews-blames-track-curve-for-amtrak-crash-and-proposes-a-mind-bending-solution/

Quote
Let’s talk about the track. You take the train every night home. … You know how it’s rickety. You know it jumps around a lot. It’s like the Wild West, some parts of that route.

Do we need to have a better right-of-way? Can we clear a straight line for this train? How fast can a train go if it’s going like this?
 
But we have a country where people can complain. In Communist countries like China, they just draw a straight line, whether it goes through your house or not, it’s a straight line.

We have this Amtrak, I’ve been taking it for a half a century, it doesn’t go in a straight line. In this case, it tried to make a turn and turned over! Because there’s so many turns on that route. How do you get rid of the turns?

Libtards - this is your braintrust. We've got guys like Charles Krauthammer. You've got... Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddow. Consider that.

It has nothing whatsoever to do with property rights. Railroads have condemnation authority, and Chris Matthews is an idiot.

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #40 on: May 18, 2015, 11:00:21 AM »
elevated tracks would reduce and ease curves

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #41 on: May 18, 2015, 11:02:40 AM »
Amtrak takes more time than driving and costs more than flying. It's really not worth spending money on, anyway.

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #42 on: May 18, 2015, 12:24:10 PM »
Depends where
Hyperbolic partisan duplicitous hypocrite

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #43 on: May 18, 2015, 12:31:12 PM »
Amtrak takes more time than driving and costs more than flying. It's really not worth spending money on, anyway.

If more was spent it could be cheaper and faster. It's quite the pickle. (But it still may not be worth spending money on).

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #44 on: May 18, 2015, 01:04:57 PM »
Amtrak takes more time than driving and costs more than flying. It's really not worth spending money on, anyway.

If more was spent it could be cheaper and faster. It's quite the pickle. (But it still may not be worth spending money on).

:love: Awesome.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, K-State fans could have beheaded the entire KU team at midcourt, and K-State fans would be celebrating it this morning.  They are the ISIS of Big 12 fanbases.

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #45 on: May 18, 2015, 02:00:14 PM »
He looks very tightly wound.   I bet he flips crap super easy.

Might be a result of being paralyzed and all.  Tends to make one look a bit stiff.

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #46 on: May 18, 2015, 02:24:12 PM »
I doubt the city allows trains to drive through its city limits at 110 mph. Monorail or not. Probably a dumb idea to spend more money on trains, stage coaches and other 18th century technology.
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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #47 on: May 18, 2015, 02:30:33 PM »
I doubt the city allows trains to drive through its city limits at 110 mph. Monorail or not.

of course they would

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #48 on: May 18, 2015, 03:08:35 PM »
No, but seriously you guys, Amtrak would totally be cheaper if we just spent more money on it.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, K-State fans could have beheaded the entire KU team at midcourt, and K-State fans would be celebrating it this morning.  They are the ISIS of Big 12 fanbases.

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Re: Do we have a Charles Krauthammer thread?
« Reply #49 on: May 18, 2015, 03:09:14 PM »
I'm all for high speed trains, just kind of thinking that if it was really that great of an idea private industry would have done it already.   Welp, maybe not, because the enviro and regulatory roadblocks probably would have been insurmountable.   For something like this you probably do need government leading itself avoid its own laws to get done.



Railroads never would have been practical without all the government help they've received.