America - The Official Thread

[Northstar]

You really should change your name to “CorrespondingTextHater”. It would be much more accurate.

 

[AnthonyD1993]

You really should change your name to “CorrespondingTextHater”. It would be much more accurate.

I would have said "FailTrollBait" for a name change, but that works too.

 

[Dennisch]

I would have said "FailTrollBait" for a name change, but that works too.

I'm gonna have a go and say "ReturnedBannedMember".

 

[TexRex]

I'm gonna have a go and say "ReturnedBannedMember".

 

[AnthonyD1993]

I'm gonna have a go and say "ReturnedBannedMember".

I wish I thought of that.

 

[DDastardly00]

I'm gonna have a go and say "ReturnedBannedMember".

I was going to say " RussianBotMember" but I like yours better.

 

[Dennisch]

Seeing how he now has a new user title provided by the staff, I was right!

 

[TexRex]

new user title

 

[ryzno]

I knew that was going to happen...
Bye Falicia!

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

He'll probably be back, with the name GOP-Destroyer, or GOPTerminator or something even more dramatic.

Anyways Rubio and Corker are on board with the revised tax plan and it could soon be seen passed before the year is out.

 

[UKMikey]

I wanted to post the news about Matthew Petersen withdrawing his nomination for district court but WaPo is hidden behind a paywall and CNN is about as welcome here as Breitbart. I hope Fox2Now is more acceptable, even though they're just repeating the CNN story; if not, I apologise.

http://fox2now.com/2017/12/18/judicial-nominee-matthew-petersen-withdraws-after-viral-hearing-video/

[EDIT] As I understand it the video of his Q&A is old news but his withdrawal isn't.

 

[TexRex]

"The White House official did not say why Peterson's nomination was pulled."



Overlooking the misspelling of his name (Is it really so hard to get that right, though? I know, I know, I didn't exactly overlook it.), I like to think the reason is clear.

 

[DDastardly00]

Terrible day here in the NW, thoughts are with the injured and the families who lost love ones, right before the holidays no less. At least 6 are dead, more are critical and another 77 are injured to varying degrees.

Interstate 5 southbound remains closed. We have people here that need to go that direction to get home, evening commute will be a nightmare, I'll be driving on that exact stretch of freeway this weekend.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Terrible day here in the NW, thoughts are with the injured and the families who lost love ones, right before the holidays no less. At least 6 are dead, more are critical and another 77 are injured to varying degrees.

Terrible incident

Reports here are saying it was an inaugural run of a high-speed service that didn't seem to slow enough for the bend, does that tie with reports on your side of the pond?

 

[DDastardly00]

Terrible incident

Reports here are saying it was an inaugural run of a high-speed service that didn't seem to slow enough for the bend, does that tie with reports on your side of the pond?

Our local news is saying the details are still forming about the cause. Apparently it is a 79 MPH (127 KPH) corner that the train derailed on and the passenger train was traveling about 81 MPH (130 KPH). I'm not sure whether speed was really the cause because there are also some vague reports about an object on track and yet there was another report that seemed to indicate the track itself might have been the cause due to age, condition or something like that. One thing is for sure, this is an awful mess that will take a while to sort out. They haven't even started clearing the wreckage yet but a long line of heavy lifting equipment just arrived.

Edit,

Well this isn't going to be good, the News Tribune (Tacoma) warned in 2013 against the proposed route saying it had the potential to cause fatalities and destruction. The Mayor of Lakewood, WA, Don Anderson, and the City of Lakewood even sued Amtrack to block it. Here is the story on it:
http://www.kiro7.com/news/local/lakewood-leaders-warned-of-danger-from-new-amtrak-route/665705535

 

[catamount39]

Terrible incident

Reports here are saying it was an inaugural run of a high-speed service that didn't seem to slow enough for the bend, does that tie with reports on your side of the pond?

High speed, yes and no. It's a typical American speed limit of 79mph.

The Talgo's have been in service for years (the garbage Spanish cars they are, with horrible safety standards), and the brand new SC-44 leading the train has been thoroughly tested and broken in. What's new is the line, which is a bypass that was supposed to shave 10 minutes off the journey. We know nothing at the moment. The engineer in the cab is one hell of a guy that has tons of experience and is well respected, I doubt it was error on his part, but we won't know until he recovers from his traumatic experience and injuries.

If you look at the photos you can see the lead locomotive clearly pitched off the corner and slammed through the trees on its side before hitting the highway back on its wheels. One of the theories being tossed around is a collision with a truck. While there is no crossing, there is an access maintenance road that runs along the trackage, and before the bridge is an area where MOW trucks can use to get onto the right of way. If you look in the photos, there is some odd debris that very well could be the remains of a truck.

However, another possibility is that the government rebuild of that line was shoddy. The bypass was formally owned a Class III company called Tacoma Rail. The line was simply given to the government and the ballast/rails/ties upgraded for Amtrak. It's possible the road bed, if it wasn't also bolstered, shifted underneath the loco in the turn just enough for it to derail and send it off the curve. Only problem is that the rails look rather undamaged so maybe its not that.

Unfortunately we will know nothing solid until the NTSB gets farther into the investigation. Thoughts and prayers with all those injured.

Our local news is saying the details are still forming about the cause. Apparently it is a 79 MPH (127 KPH) corner that the train derailed on and the passenger train was traveling about 81 MPH (130 KPH). I'm not sure whether speed was really the cause because there are also some vague reports about an object on track and yet there was another report that seemed to indicate the track itself might have been the cause due to age, condition or something like that. One thing is for sure, this is an awful mess that will take a while to sort out. They haven't even started clearing the wreckage yet but a long line of heavy lifting equipment just arrived.

A 2mph difference for a train is nothing. What's more intriguing is them reporting an object, which could go with the truck theory as that was an initial rumor. It isn't impossible given the access road. The trackwork is new, however what isn't is the road bed potentially. If the government contractors (as Tacoma Rail didn't do the work) didn't firm up the roadbed or make sure it was in good condition, then that could very well be the cause as the ground itself would be liable to shifting or buckling.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Thanks @catamount39, @DDastardly00. That would tie with the image at the bottom of this report (not posted directly for obvious reasons) that seems to be from before the train reaches the roadway, there's a large suspension/wheel assembly from a road vehicle there. Could have bounced I guess but not likely in that direction.

 

[catamount39]

Thanks @catamount39, @DDastardly00. That would tie with the image at the bottom of this report (not posted directly for obvious reasons) that seems to be from before the train reaches the roadway, there's a large suspension/wheel assembly from a road vehicle there. Could have bounced I guess but not likely in that direction.

If you're referring to the image with locomotive 181 in the background (the remnants of a tire and wheel on an axle), then that'd indeed prove that.

 

[DDastardly00]

Stories like this are amazing, here is the account of the Eagle Scout who ran towards the wreckage to assist people that were hurt.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattl...p-comfort-victims-of-washington-amtrak-crash/

Other than his heroics, I also found this bit particularly interesting:

While the speed limit on the tracks is generally 79 mph, the speed limit on the curve where the derailment happened is 30 mph, Barbara LaBoe, a Washington Department of Transportation spokeswoman said. The tracks are owned by Sound Transit, which managed the recent track upgrade work under an agreement with WSDOT.

Sounds like the train didn't slow down for the corner, from his eye-witness account of things.

 

[catamount39]

One last thing, everybody please just refer to these 4 points with this incident and as with any other:

 

[Johnnypenso]

According to the New York Post, President Obama protected members of notorious terror group Hezbollah from prosecution to save the Iran nuclear deal.

A team at the Drug Enforcement Administration had been working for almost a decade to bring down the Lebanon-based militant organization’s sophisticated $1 billion-a-year drug ring — which it found was smuggling cocaine into the US and laundering the profits by buying used cars stateside and shipping them to Africa for resale, Politico reports. But the departments of Justice and Treasury delayed and rejected prosecution and sanctions requests from the team that had exposed the Iran-backed criminal network because the Obama White House feared “rocking the boat” with Tehran ahead of the deal, the site reports. “This was a policy decision, it was a systematic decision,” David Asher, who helped found the program for the Defense Department, told Politico. “They serially ripped apart this entire effort that was very well supported and resourced, and it was done from the top down.”

But the administration repeatedly stymied efforts to prosecute Safieddine — even though the team had eyewitnesses willing to testify that he’d overseen big weapons and drug deals — and ultimately shut Project Cassandra down once the nuclear deal was settled, Politico reports. “They were a paramilitary organization with strategic importance in the Middle East, and we watched them become an international criminal conglomerate generating billions of dollars for the world’s most dangerous activities, including chemical and nuclear weapons programs and armies that believe America is their sworn enemy,” Kelly told the site. An Obama spokesman denied Project Cassandra was derailed for political reasons, noting several Hezbollah members were arrested on its watch and sanctions put in place.

https://nypost.com/2017/12/18/obama-protected-hezbollah-drug-ring-to-save-iran-nukes-deal/

 

[TexRex]

According to the New York Post, President Obama protected members of notorious terror group Hezbollah from prosecution to save the Iran nuclear deal.

Sounds like business-as-usual to me. Inb4 Trumpeters start chanting "lock him up."

 

[Northstar]

I would be surprised if there has ever been a president who hasn’t done something like that. It’s like how local cops might look the other way when dealing with a small time dealer if it might lead them to a supplier.

 

[Johnnypenso]

The Amtrak train derailment mystery is solved. The train was going more than 2.5 times the 30 mph speed limit for the section of track it was on. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/12/1...eling-at-80-mph-in-30-mph-zone-ntsb-says.html

 

[TexRex]

So then it doesn't show more than ever why that soon to be submitted infrastructure plan needs to be approved quickly...

 

[catamount39]

The Amtrak train derailment mystery is solved. The train was going more than 2.5 times the 30 mph speed limit for the section of track it was on. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/12/1...eling-at-80-mph-in-30-mph-zone-ntsb-says.html

A couple of things annoy the hell out of me here.

1 - Why in God's name did the government paid chumps who rebuilt this branch as a passenger speed bypass not equipment the line with PTC like the mainline?

2 - Pointless article by Fox.

Literally gives almost nothing. We barely know anymore than we did yesterday other than this apparent over speed and lack of now typical PTC signalling/control. NTSB still have to recover the wreckage and bring it to Tacoma or Seattle yard do their work.

So then it doesn't show more than ever why that soon to be submitted infrastructure plan needs to be approved quickly...

Government infrastructure spending has **** all to do with the rail system (this response isn't aimed towards the post, it's aimed at orange man's tweet). The rail system, aside from the Northeast Corridor on the east coast, in this country is nearly 100% owned by the big 7 (NS, CSX, KCS, BNSF, UP, CN and CP) and then the mass assortment of shortlines that feed them. And thank God because that's why America's freight rail system is the best in the world. Government money, not needed.

 

[PeterJB]

I thought most American trains were equipped with a failsafe that triggers the emergency brake if you go over the speed limit?

 

[Johnnypenso]

A
2 - Pointless article by Fox.

Literally gives almost nothing. We barely know anymore than we did yesterday other than this apparent over speed and lack of now typical PTC signalling/control. NTSB still have to recover the wreckage and bring it to Tacoma or Seattle yard do their work.

Literally nothing...except that the black box was found and analyzed, the cause of the accident and the system that would have prevented it. Other than that, pretty much nothing.

 

[Dotini]

I thought most American trains were equipped with a failsafe that triggers the emergency brake if you go over the speed limit?

I think they are. The train that just wrecked was so equipped, it is said. But it wasn't operating at the time of the accident for some reason TBD.

 

[TenEightyOne]

So then it doesn't show more than ever why that soon to be submitted infrastructure plan needs to be approved quickly...

Government infrastructure spending has **** all to do with the rail system (this response isn't aimed towards the post, it's aimed at orange man's tweet). The rail system, aside from the Northeast Corridor on the east coast, in this country is nearly 100% owned by the big 7 (NS, CSX, KCS, BNSF, UP, CN and CP) and then the mass assortment of shortlines that feed them. And thank God because that's why America's freight rail system is the best in the world. Government money, not needed.

This year's budget cuts infrastructure spending by about 13% including a reduction in Amtrak funding of about $630 million. If that government money isn't needed then why do they spend so much?

Pointless article by Fox...gives almost nothing...other than this apparent over speed and lack of now typical PTC signalling/control

Unless the 50mph overspeed indicated in the initial examination of the black box was accompanied by some massive un-related mechanical failure then surely the article gives a big indicator of the actual cause of the derailment?