What The New Dem-Controlled House Should Do Out Of The Gate

Ken AshfordCongress, Democrats, Election 2018, Immigration and Xenophobia, Infrastructure, Political Scandals, Trump & Administration, Voter Suppression & Voter SecurityLeave a Comment

Dear Dem-Controlled House and Nancy Pelosi: Don’t let Trump bait you into go whole hog on investigations of him. That’ll come in time. No talk of impeachment. And let Mueller do his thing.  In the meantime, act for the American people. The new Democratic House majority should devote its first 100 days to passing five pieces of legislation, then dare … Read More

Breaking: Pedestrian Bridge Collapse

Ken AshfordBreaking News, Disasters, InfrastructureLeave a Comment

Tweet from four days ago: First-of-its-kind pedestrian bridge “swings” into place. “FIU is about building bridges and student safety. This project accomplishes our mission beautifully,” -President Mark B. Rosenberg. https://t.co/x8gPM9A4DG #worldsahead pic.twitter.com/mPEMeh2zmw — FIU (@FIU) March 10, 2018 And in case it gets taken down, here’s a screen cap: Well…. it collapsed. Reports of several dead. BREAKING: New pedestrian bridge … Read More

How Flint Happened

Ken AshfordInfrastructureLeave a Comment

It’s long and wonky, but Nate Silver’s 538 site looks at the Flint lead problem from a statistical standpoint.  Good stuff.  Some snippets: Officials at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the agency in charge of making sure water is safe in the state, made a series of decisions that had disastrous consequences: Against federal guidelines, they chose not to … Read More

Flint Water – What’s Up With That?

Ken AshfordInfrastructureLeave a Comment

The Flint water story has been around for a few weeks, but it really hit national attention (finally) when Hillary Clinton raised in the Democratic debate last weekend. Here’s a backgrounder. The first thing to keep in mind is that Flint, Michigan is no longer the thriving city it once was.  As Michael Moore documented in “Roger and Me”, Flint … Read More

Response To Amtrak Train Crash: Let’s Gut Amtrak

Ken AshfordCongress, Disasters, Infrastructure, RepublicansLeave a Comment

On Tuesday, an Amtrak train — the Northeast Regional train, No. 188 — was traveling from Washington to New York when it derailed around 9:30 p.m., just outside Philly. The National Transportation Safety Board has confirmed that the train was traveling at more than 100 miles an hour or twice the speed limit in that part of the corridor.  More than … Read More

Our Failing Infrastructure

Ken AshfordInfrastructureLeave a Comment

Old pipes everywhere. The rupture of the 90-year-old main sent a geyser shooting 30 feet in the air and deluged Sunset Boulevard and UCLA with 8 million to 10 million gallons of water before it was shut off more than three hours after the pipe burst, city officials said.