This is what California has become.....

[BaltACD]

Go out and rake leaves in the California forests!

[Miningman]

Me brain 'urts.

[Firelock76]

zardoz

 

SeeYou190

I doubt any of the activity in the video reflects the beliefs or principles of a typical resident of California.

 

 

And a description of said resident would be.....?

 

Kidding aside, you are correct; however, stupidity is universal, at least on this planet.

 

Well, you know what Mel Brooks says?

"As long as this world keeps spinning and turning we're gonna get dizzy and we're gonna make mistakes!"

But getting back to those kids on the train, that IS stupidity.  Sooner or later the Law of Averages is going to catch up with one of them, and it won't be pretty when it happens.

Uh, Overmod, just who started that rock band?  Salvador Dali? 

[CMStPnP]

SeeYou190

I don't see why you needed to insult an entire state over the illegal behaviour of a few fools.

Your right, lets talk about letting debris accumulate on forest floors until you have enough tinder to create a raging Inferno of Biblical porportions........then blaming lack of rain or climate change.   Or how about allowing wooden shingles on roofs when most of the United States in drought prone areas, like North Texas has prohibited that specific building material as irresponsible....

Just kidding but yet another example of how folks outside the state, see it from the outside.

[Overmod]

zardoz

And a description of said resident would be... ?

Here.

[zardoz]

SeeYou190

I doubt any of the activity in the video reflects the beliefs or principles of a typical resident of California.

And a description of said resident would be.....?

Kidding aside, you are correct; however, stupidity is universal, at least on this planet.

[SeeYou190]

"This is what California has become"

.

I don't see why you needed to insult an entire state over the illegal behaviour of a few fools.

.

I doubt any of the activity in the video reflects the beliefs or principles of a typical resident of California.

.

-Kevin

.

[BaltACD]

GARY CHANDLER

Apparently it was something that had been going on for awhile, but previously they had been able to get off the train before it stopped in Flint.

Moral of the story - when you train hop you have NO IDEA where or when it will stop and YOU are not in control.

[tree68]

GARY CHANDLER

There is a North/south line that runs through Flint. Maybe about 10 years back a group of kids hopped a freight near Highland, Mi. at a spot where the train is going slow.

CSX Saginaw Sub (former C&O, Pere Marquette).  There's a passing siding at Highland.

[GARY CHANDLER]

Back to the subject of people hopping freights for the thrill of it all. I live about 25 miles southwest of Flint, and heard about this event on the TV news out of Flint.

There is a North/south line that runs through Flint. Maybe about 10 years back a group of kids hopped a freight near Highland, Mi. at a spot where the train is going slow. The train picked up speed to the point where they could not get off.

The train continued on and stopped in Flint. By now it was dark and they were in a bad area. The end result was that they were lucky they got away with merely being sexually assaulted and not murdered, all for the sport of the train ride.

Apparently it was something that had been going on for awhile, but previously they had been able to get off the train before it stopped in Flint.

[charlie hebdo]

CMStPnP

 

 

zardoz

I'm not making a political statement; I'm just addressing his business "successes".

 

 

Except that I said business experience.   He had his fingers in attempting to run a varied portfolio which gives him a very unique background of experience with issues running each business that most politicians do not have.   Business success or failure really doesn't matter when it comes to experience you can learn just as much from both although I would say you learn far more from a business that isn't successful vs one that is.

Same deal with a regular work assignment.   You learn far more in a highly dysfunctional work environment than you typically do in an environment where everything works exactly right.

 

 

You really might want to give a little more thought to your rationalization/defense.

[CMStPnP]

Paul of Covington

Sure enough, he applied the principles of running a business to to his new position, i.e. for the enrichment of himself and his family.

He-he-he, you have to show me where that is a "Principle of running a business" enrichment of himself and family.   I missed that priciple in business school.   It's a common misperception that if someone has a business they have to be rich.....which is untrue.

My last business grossed close to $400,000 a year and it would only have been break even if I worked in the business full time for 80 hours a week with a very stripped down staff of employee or if I could boost gross sales another $250k (you can boost sales that much but it's very difficult without a chunk of change in the bank to run deficit a couple of years) .    The last owner was Vietnamese and him and his wife were working full time and between the two of them only bringing in  $60k a year.   They had a tiny staff and could not handle customer surges nor could they handle expansion costs.    The deferred a lot of maintenece as well.   Long-term they were headed for liquidation or heavy debt load when it came time to replace the kitchen equipment or attempt a restaurant decor refresh.

This is typical though.  Majority of small businesses pay less than if the husband and wife had their own seperate jobs.    Some pay marginally more.    Majority of people choose the lifestyle because they want to be their own boss vs wanting to build a huge Carnegie Steel type conglomerate.

At the Trump level he could afford to dabble in other markets and he did so in a lot of varied markets because his base business in real estate had large returns which provided the surplus cash.   Yes, he had failures in other areas but a lot of those had to do with timing and/or his naivete about the business environment being permanent in a lot of cases it was only temporary (ie: New York Shuttle, Casinos in Atlantic City, etc).   Jury is out on the Casino in Las Vegas.   If that is long-term investment he can still make a lot of money on it if the strip development heads his way.    If it was a short-term investment, he lost his shirt again.  Trump Hotels seems to be doing OK but it is complimentary to Real Estate development and follows the Trammel-Crow model that started with the Wyndham Hotel chain.   So not necessarily a new concept that Trump invented.

[CMStPnP]

zardoz

I'm not making a political statement; I'm just addressing his business "successes".

Except that I said business experience.   He had his fingers in attempting to run a varied portfolio which gives him a very unique background of experience with issues running each business that most politicians do not have.   Business success or failure really doesn't matter when it comes to experience you can learn just as much from both although I would say you learn far more from a business that isn't successful vs one that is.

Same deal with a regular work assignment.   You learn far more in a highly dysfunctional work environment than you typically do in an environment where everything works exactly right.

 

[zardoz]

CMStPnP

I actually think it is great we have someone with business experience finally and more are on the way to the Senate. 

Trump casinos, such as Taj Mahal in 1991 — which was $3 billion in debt after just  one year in operation. 

Trump airlines: Two years after he launched Trump Shuttle, the airline wasn’t making enough money to even cover the $1 million monthly interest payment on his loan. He eventually defaulted.

Trump magazine
Trump launched his eponymous magazine in late 2007; It didn’t survive the financial crisis, folding by 2009.

Trump Mortgage
“I think it’s a great time to start a mortgage company,”  Trump famously predicted to CNBC in April 2006. Trump Mortgage shuttered in September 2007. 

Trump’s cologne brands, Success by Trump and Empire by Trump, which were sold exclusively by Macy’s until both the retailer and the cologne maker dropped the mogul.

Likewise, Macy’s discontinued Trump’s line of menswear.

Trump university. Trump steaks. Trump travel. Trump vodka. Shall I go on?

With that type of experience, who needs failures?

(I'm not making a political statement; I'm just addressing his business "successes".

[Paul of Covington]

CMStPnP

I actually think it is great we have someone with business experience finally and more are on the way to the Senate.

   I was hesitant about joining this debate since we're on the verge of somebody hollerin', "Political!", and I don't intend to continue it, but here are a couple of thoughts:

   I kinda get a kick out of the recent fad where people claim experience in running a business is highly desirable when it comes to running government.   It has been brought up in this forum that a former mayor of New Orleans is in jail.   When he first announced his candidacy, he was a complete unknown, but he picked up several endorsements touting his experience in running a business.   Sure enough, he applied the principles of running a business to to his new position, i.e. for the enrichment of himself and his family.   I'm not saying business experience is bad, but that it is not the all-important consideration that some want to make it, and in my opinion it is no more than an "...and by the way..." consideration.

 

CMStPnP

He started cost cutting of the budget just prior to the mid-terms and I think he cut $30-50 Billion, peanuts but he wasn't through.

   And how much did he cut revenue?

   

[Shadow the Cats owner]

CMStPnP

 

 

zardoz

It certainly does not help that the alleged "leader" of the country spews such virulent rhetoric every time he tweets; gets the citizens so riled up at each other that they lose sight of the screwing they are getting from the administration's policies.  

 

 

I actually think it is great we have someone with business experience finally and more are on the way to the Senate.    While I agree with you on the rhetoric and that it is pretty bad some days so is the constant bragging and ripping on other people (though some of the folks deserve it).    I am happy at some of the new paths he is blazing and fresh out of the box thinking he is bringing.   I hope the next two years are productive vs another investigate and suspect everything atmosphere.   We'll see.   Eventually the ship rights itself, always been the case with this country.

So the cool thing about the recent election is Infrastructure is definitely next on the agenda.   He started cost cutting of the budget just prior to the mid-terms and I think he cut $30-50 Billion, peanuts but he wasn't through.    So it appears we are going to do Infrastructure next and with a Democratic House probably Amtrak will get another infusion and possibly more funding for Chicago's CREATE.

I am keeping an eye on Kansas and Wisconsin.    Both have newly elected Democratic Governors so Kansas just might finally fund the overnight train to Kansas City they keep trying to push on everyone from Dallas.    I think Wisconsin is probably a go for more improvements to Chicago to Milwaukee service as well as a second train between Chicago and St. Paul.    Illinois will probably get its Quad Cities train finally.   Michigan more money to it's HSR corridor.    So exciting times with the election results, IMHO.

California's incomming Governor says he fully supports and will financially support the HSR program underway there including the electrification of SFO to San Jose.   He again promised attracting a private firm to take over that project but still think that is a pipe dream.

 

 

Illinois is so broke we can not even afford to pay our current water bills for our prisons yet your expecting our new governor whom by the way is from Chicago hates downstate and beholden to our speaker of the house is going to do anything that is going to tick off that person.  The Governor of Illinois does not run this state the Speaker of the House does his name is Mike Madigan and in Madigan's world the only place that matters is Chicago and the only people that matter are Public Sector Union aka Government Workers.  Madigan controls who gets what writes our budget for the state and will replace anyone that opposes him with a lackey that supports him.  

[CMStPnP]

zardoz

It certainly does not help that the alleged "leader" of the country spews such virulent rhetoric every time he tweets; gets the citizens so riled up at each other that they lose sight of the screwing they are getting from the administration's policies.  

I actually think it is great we have someone with business experience finally and more are on the way to the Senate.    While I agree with you on the rhetoric and that it is pretty bad some days so is the constant bragging and ripping on other people (though some of the folks deserve it).    I am happy at some of the new paths he is blazing and fresh out of the box thinking he is bringing.   I hope the next two years are productive vs another investigate and suspect everything atmosphere.   We'll see.   Eventually the ship rights itself, always been the case with this country.

So the cool thing about the recent election is Infrastructure is definitely next on the agenda.   He started cost cutting of the budget just prior to the mid-terms and I think he cut $30-50 Billion, peanuts but he wasn't through.    So it appears we are going to do Infrastructure next and with a Democratic House probably Amtrak will get another infusion and possibly more funding for Chicago's CREATE.

I am keeping an eye on Kansas and Wisconsin.    Both have newly elected Democratic Governors so Kansas just might finally fund the overnight train to Kansas City they keep trying to push on everyone from Dallas.    I think Wisconsin is probably a go for more improvements to Chicago to Milwaukee service as well as a second train between Chicago and St. Paul.    Illinois will probably get its Quad Cities train finally.   Michigan more money to it's HSR corridor.    So exciting times with the election results, IMHO.

California's incomming Governor says he fully supports and will financially support the HSR program underway there including the electrification of SFO to San Jose.   He again promised attracting a private firm to take over that project but still think that is a pipe dream.

[zardoz]

samfp1943

 

tree68

CMStPnP

BaltACD

Today's 'real' social media is more anti-social than social. Forums are more a social conversation on an agreed subject area.

Some can't even handle this format.    Which it is very tame.   No death threats since I have been on here.   Can't say that for some of those FB Forums.

Yeah - even the disagreements here are usually pretty civil.  Some folks on FB can't even agree to disagree.  

 

 

 

  Seems that un-civil discourse is the communications medium of the day.

   In- civility has taken over at most levels of social interaction...Used to be, that simply, 'shooting the bird' at some one resolved some indiscressions; nowdays, it can be anywhere from verbal, to physical and ultimately, 'gun play'. 

 

It certainly does not help that the alleged "leader" of the country spews such virulent rhetoric every time he tweets; gets the citizens so riled up at each other that they lose sight of the screwing they are getting from the administration's policies.  

[MidlandMike]

The greenway (Dequindre Cut) seems to have some lanes left for some track, but its politically problematic that a rail line could be re-established.  Too bad they did not do something like Phily, where the Reading and PRR stub termnals were connected by a tunnel, to convert the downtown stations into a thru station.  The approaches to the MC station could have been extended under downtown Detroit, and them continued thru the Dequindre Cut and on to Pontiac.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dequindre_Cut

 

[CMStPnP]

tree68

Fort Street Station would be just as difficult to replicate.

    

Yeah Detroit really messed up the former approaches to both stations.  Oh well.

[tree68]

According to Wikipedia, Brush Street Station (N 42.32824 W 83.03892) (replaced by Franklin Street Station when they were running SEMTA between there and Pontiac) is now a parking lot, and the former roadbed is a "greenway."  Hard to say how difficult it would be to put rails back down.  Wouldn't be easy.

There isn't much room there between the Renaissance Center and the river for any significant structure.

Fort Street Station would be just as difficult to replicate.

Despite living in MI for the early part of my life, the time when I might have been exploring this sort of thing first hand was while I was in USAF and elsewhere in the world.

[CMStPnP]

BOB WITHORN

CMStPnP, You pretty much nailed it for Detroit right up to about 10 years ago. No life experience in Flint, licky you. I grew up here but don't live here, just work. Some have suggested shrinking the city borders, tearing out the streets, sewers, gas and water lines and moving the few families to new homes closer to downtown. Turn it back into farmland, though you would probably need an armed escort to plow. There are whole blocks with maybe 4 or 5 structures of which maybe 1 or 2 are occupied. Think Detroit in the 80's and 90's.

I had a great job in the New Center Area but once I arrived there I figured out why they had to go to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to find someone to fill it.    Still it was fairly safe.   I remember after the Detroit Auto Show, someone at GM parked two brand new Cadillac STS sedans in the parking garage on Friday.   By Monday, they were stripped down to almost the scrap metal.    That was the GM employee garage which allegedly was monitored by GM Security.

So back to the rail topic part of this.    The GT Railway station downtown seemed to be an excellent placement, wasn't it at or near the foot of the Renissance Center?    Why did they do away with that and can it be replaced easily.    Are the approach tracks or land for the approach tracks still there?

The Amtrak station at New Center was just supposed to be temporary but they didn't elaborate beyond that when they built it.   Temporary at that location or were they looking to once again someday serve Michigan Central Station?

Still think it was a mistake to get rid of the GT track that went right downtown.

[BOB WITHORN]

CMStPnP, You pretty much nailed it for Detroit right up to about 10 years ago. No life experience in Flint, licky you. I grew up here but don't live here, just work. Some have suggested shrinking the city borders, tearing out the streets, sewers, gas and water lines and moving the few families to new homes closer to downtown. Turn it back into farmland, though you would probably need an armed escort to plow. There are whole blocks with maybe 4 or 5 structures of which maybe 1 or 2 are occupied. Think Detroit in the 80's and 90's.

[CMStPnP]

BOB WITHORN

CMStPnP, You didn't have to use Detroit as your example of a #1 neighborhood. You could have used maybe Flint, Mi. instead of poor old Detroit.

Sorry, I should have been more clear.   Detroit as I experienced it in the early 1990's.   Detroit is on it's way to making a wonderful comeback now and I don't want anyone to think it is still the failed city it once was.   I have no life experience in Flint.    This was my experience in Detroit in the 1990's.

1. Turning on the evening news and watching a clearly drunk Bill Bonds attempt to deliver the news without slurring his speech too much, losing his balance or making an incredibly sexist remark in bad taste about his female coanchor.

2.  Hearing about a new Corvette going airborne and disintegrating on the Lodge freeway on one of its more spectacular rush hour crashes.

3.  Dealing periodically with the freeway sniper who would randomly appear and take pot shots at passing cars on various freeways.

4.  Listening to the distinctive crunch of spent disposable hyperdermic needles under foot while walking on the sidewalks outside in the New Center Area.

5.  Listening to the radio and hearing Mayor Coleman Young say incredibly stupid racist remarks while the heads of GM & Ford attempted some kind of reconciliation and investment strategy (in the end he foiled some of their investment attempts to stabilize the city with his verbal remarks or actions).  For example after spending nearly $300 million on investment on bringing back the New Center area, Coleman Young decided it was the safest place in the city to put drug rehab, welfare disbursements and other social services that ensured some of the larges dregs of society were hanging out on the street during business hours.    Couldn't move say a Police or Fire station there though......they were needed elsewhere.

6. Walking down some of the areas downtown and hearing period gun shots from whomever decided it was cool to shoot their pistol out the window for whatever reason......could have been crime in progress as well, who knows.

7.  Standing on the 15th Floor of the New Center GM Building and watching various parts of the city burn via arsonists on "devils night" and watching all the citys and some NG helos sweep areas of the city with those day/sun spotlights looking for people.    The city looked more like a warzone on this specific night with all the helos in the air, the red halos from buildings on fire, fire department sirens, etc.   Almost a view of complete anarchy.

8. Dealing with the bad taste betting pool at work at what the night before casualty count would be in shootings or massacres in the city.

9. Hearing about the racially based team of "Starsky and Hutch" on the Detroit Police Department, among their police abuses would be to beat and torture people for information who they suspected had info they could use.

I can go on further but we are way off topic here, best to end it now. :)

[Shadow the Cats owner]

Chicago on the other hand well lets just say body armor for some neighborhoods is not a fashion accesory but needed.  

[BOB WITHORN]

CMStPnP, You didn't have to use Detroit as your example of a #1 neighborhood. You could have used maybe Flint, Mi. instead of poor old Detroit.

[CMStPnP]

Firelock76

You don't need to use anything that fires a "bullet", use a light shotgun, .410 to 20 gauge with a birdshot load.  They're more than lethal used inside, and won't go through the wall and into your neighbor's house.  It's been tested, it's true.

Most of them are bone heads so I don't try to reason with them.   I don't own any firearms the neighborhood on a scale of 1 being within Detroit City Limits and 10 being the White House..........rates about an 8.    I've slept overnight with the doors unlocked and garage door open, no issues except for the cops who had to tresspass to leave a post it note that I left my garage door open overnight.

It's a safe area these folks are just freaking out over low misdemeanor type crime that is probably their kids stealing stuff.

[SD70Dude]

Firelock76

You don't need to use anything that fires a "bullet", use a light shotgun, .410 to 20 gauge with a birdshot load.  They're more than lethal used inside, and won't go through the wall and into your neighbor's house.  It's been tested, it's true.

Speaking from Estero FL, I just happened to look in. 

The perfect state to "stand your ground" in!

[Firelock76]

You don't need to use anything that fires a "bullet", use a light shotgun, .410 to 20 gauge with a birdshot load.  They're more than lethal used inside, and won't go through the wall and into your neighbor's house.  It's been tested, it's true.

Speaking from Estero FL, I just happened to look in. 

[Overmod]

CMStPnP

Have to constantly remind people, this isn't "Little House on the Prarie" you live on a city sized lot and a bullet once it is fired does not know where your property ends or whom you intended the bullet for........goes in one ear and out the other.

Your problem is that you're 'reminding' them of the wrong thing -- remind them about frangible bullets (or Glazers) once, and be done with it.