Thursday, April 27: More Train Problems
I'm just spitballing here, but maybe it's time to upgrade our train infrastructure
The folks at ProPublica have done it again.
Yesterday the outstanding nonprofit outlet published an article detailing how train stoppages across the country are affecting everyday people, including children trying to get to school and emergency vehicles transporting people to hospitals. The images and videos included in the article tell the full story; children risking life and limb climbing over or crawling under parked trains just to get to school.
The recent headline-grabbing train derailments have focused more attention on train safety and whether the powerful rail companies are doing enough to protect the public (they are not). The frequency and fallout of these derailments also bring to mind the question of whether federal regulators are doing enough to hold them accountable (they also are not) particularly as train companies build longer and longer trains. Meanwhile, when rail workers try to unionize and voice their concerns, they are forced away from the bargaining table by the president himself.
But communities routinely face risks foisted on them by the same train companies that are recording record profits, companies that have long acted with impunity. Every day across America, trains park in the middle of neighborhoods and major intersections, waiting to enter congested rail yards or for one crew to switch with another. They block crossings, sometimes for hours or days, disrupting life and endangering lives.
The linked article mentions endless horror stories: Ambulances that can’t reach patients before they die or get them to the hospital in time. Fire trucks that can’t get through as house fires blaze out of control. Pedestrians that try to cut through trains being disfigured, dismembered and killed; when one train began moving without warning, an Iowa woman was dragged underneath until it stripped almost all of the skin from the back of her body; a Pennsylvania teenager lost her leg hopping between rail cars as she rushed home to get ready for prom.
Secretary of transportation Peter “Rat Face” Buttigieg said that this spring or summer, he expects to announce the first grants in a new US Department of Transportation program designed to help alleviate blocked crossings. These kids will just have to keep climbing or crawling under trains and hope for the best in the meantime.
Side Items
Disney’s Good Graces: Disney sued the embattled governor of Florida Ronald DeSantis yesterday over the republican’s attempted takeover of its theme park district. “The happiest place on Earth”, alleged that the governor waged a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” after the company opposed a law critics call “Don’t Say Gay.” DeSantis, who frames himself as a deft republican operative able to subtly implement his conservative agenda without drama, has instead dived headlong into the fray with the major tourism company. The funniest part of all of this is Disney saying, “We regret that it has come to this”, like Denzel Washington before he murders a cavalry of Russian hitmen
Building the Wall: The co-founder of a fundraising group that promised to help Donald Trump construct a controversial wall along the southern US border was sentenced to four years and three months in prison yesterday for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from hoodwinked donors. I seem to recall a certain orange commander in chief claiming that Mexico would pay for the wall (which has yet to be constructed), but it looks like the funds came out of the pockets of bigoted and oblivious Americans. How convenient
Indian Citizenship Test: Nearly 2 million people in India are at risk of being stripped of their citizenship unless they can provide documents dating back to 1971 that show their ancestors entered the country legally from Bangladesh. It’s a pretty blatant attempt to deport millions of minority Muslims from the most populous country in the world. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is seeking to use illegal immigration and fears of demographic shift for electoral gains in a country where nationalist sentiments already run deep. It’s a classic tactic straight out of the racist playbook of “replacement theory” politics