#Party Buses Memphis

[nationwidecarservice]

15 Reasons to Choose a Party Bus Rental for Your Next Event in Memphis

Are you planning a special event or celebration in Memphis? Whether it’s a birthday bash, bachelor/bachelorette party, wedding, or corporate outing, choosing our party bus rental can elevate your experience to the next level. Here are 15 compelling reasons why our Memphis party bus rental is the perfect choice for your next event in Memphis. Spacious Accommodations: Our Party buses offer ample…

[cosmicgrapevine]

“It used to be a health resort,” Jordy said. “Back in the old days, people thought hot springs would cure anything, y’know, so rich people’d come out here and stay for a couple weeks. Then it went outta business in the ‘30s and the Colonel—that’s Travis’ great-grandpa—bought it for cheap.”

Melanie let him ramble. She’d been fishing for information about the Barretts and their ‘citadel’ all the way up, and Jordy had been the most eager to provide it. It also gave him a chance to share her seat, inching closer with each curve of I-75 until his arm was around her shoulder. Melanie didn’t mind. She kind of liked how corny it was. She’d seen it on TV a hundred times, now a boy was trying it on her in real life. She’d seen fake girlfriends turn into real ones on TV too. Maybe she’d try that one on him.

Everyone onboard knew they weren’t actually dating, so he didn’t need to maintain the illusion. But he wanted to. And she wanted him to. He’d turned on the charm, and it worked, and she’d resent it if he wasn’t so…well, charming. Did she really like him? The way he liked her? She couldn’t say. She didn’t want to ask herself yet.

Her spirits dampened slightly when she got a full view of the next week’s lodgings. “People live here?” She blurted out.

“Yeah, it’s…it ain’t the prettiest,” Jordy admitted. “When the Colonel bought it he bulldozed the whole thing, rebuilt it like this. Wards are stronger when there ain’t any fancy shit gettin’ in the way, he said.”

The Wards here must have been very strong, as the Citadel was a solid block of gray cement, broken up only by plain glass windows. The foggy valleys and narrow, rocky gorges they’d driven through to get here put Melanie in mind of some fairytale castle, but it looked like a Siberian prison at best, a nuclear waste dump at worst. There were several cars and buses parked haphazardly in the front lawn, and the hot springs bubbled away in the back, with their sharp chalky smell.

“Only Travis’ great-aunt lives here, and two of her kids,” Fawn said. “The top floors are for guests, and during Equinox, all the high school delegations have to stay on-site. It’s in the contract. ‘Cause killing Halfmires is fine, but god forbid we stay in Knoxville and party with college kids.”

“Fawn, you ain’t partyin’ either way, come on,” Jordy said. “Hey, looks like the AEGIS bus is here. You gonna room with that Dutch girl again?”

“Trudi? Hope so. You’ll like her, Mel, she’s awesome.”

“Wait, Dutch? Some kids flew here from the Netherlands?”

“Switzerland, actually.” Fawn said. “About 30 years ago a lot of the old European Warden schools put their funds together and built a new boarding school in Geneva. AEGIS stands for something in French, I forget what. The other two schools sending student reps are St. George’s in Memphis, and Wallenbrook in Pennsylvania.”

“Well, they all sound…fancy.” She suddenly wished she wore something other than old jeans and a Kahoti Knights sweatshirt.

“The AEGIS kids are pretty cool. All Americans are the same to them, I guess.” Fawn said. “The others, though, yeah, we’re trashy new money to them. Especially the Georgies. Your grandpa’s been gnawing off bits of their Gulf Coast territory for years and they hate him for it. Well, too bad, guys, it’s not the 1800s anymore.”

[suckitsurveys]

Do you still read the newspaper or have an online newspaper subscription? Occasionally I’m not subscribed to anything though.

What’s your favourite kind of meat? (vegan/vegetarian options count!) Crab.

Have you ever been mistaken for staff at a store you were just visiting? Yeah, I have.

What’s the coolest or most memorable animal you’ve ever seen at a zoo? Pandas, for sure. I saw them at then Memphis zoo a handful of times and I am forever grateful for that because I love them so much. Oh, and bats!!!

Do you share a bedroom with anybody? My husband.

What colour are the public buses where you live? White and blue mostly.

How often do you pay your utilities bills? They are included in our rent which is such a fantastic set up we have going for us.

What video game have you played the most hours of? If you don’t know, just make a rough guess. I don’t know.

Do you own a two-piece bikini? Yes, all my suits are two pieces.

Is there anybody else in the room you’re in right now? Nope.

What have you got within reaching distance of you right now? My phone, my coffee, various office supplies.

What have you been craving lately, food-wise? Anything non-food? Sushi, always.

Is your short-term or long-term memory worse? I mean, I have my moments with both.

Do you do anything in particular to help you fall asleep? I have a white noise machine.

What was the weather like today? It’s only 8am but it’s 63F and rainy and I wish I could open the window in my office right now but it’s STUCK.

Who will you see within the next week? My husband, my coworkers, my family, my nieghbors, my friend Randal and his friends when we go to the Ren faire this weekend.

Do you have any guilty pleasure music? Anything you’re willing to admit in this survey answer? I don’t really believe in guilty pleasures but I definitely have songs I like that my friends judge me for, like ones by MGK hahahahah.

What was the last movie you watched that was over two hours long? The King of Staten Island, which does NOT need to be as long as it is, but I’ll watch Pete do anything for 2 hours ahahahahaha.

Speaking of which, what’s the longest you think a movie should be? I personally think most movies are too long. Hour and a half - two hours is a good time frame.

Do you know anyone who is a medical nurse or doctor? Yes.

Have you ever worked night shifts? If so, did you like it? Not really? I worked until midnight sometimes at Party City, but I wouldn’t call that a “night shift.”

Are you good at fixing computer problems? For the most part.

Do you tend to make decisions by following your heart or your head? Head, mostly.

What’s the population of your current city/town? Why do surveys keep asking me this? A little under 3 million.

Do your parents live in their hometown(s)? My dad, yes. My mother was born in Tennessee, but she passed away 10 years ago.

What are you wearing today? My go-to cool weather outfit. converse, jeans, and my favorite hoodie.

Are you one to accessorize a lot? Eh.

What language other than English do you know the most words of? Spanish, but un poco.

When was the last time you ate? Did you eat something nice? I had a banana and some fruit snacks a little bit ago.

[zillapiner]

Paina party bus

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[partybusmemp-blog]

Party Bus Memphis

Address: 13082 Sandbourne North, Olive Branch, MS 38654, United States

Phone: (901) 563-0011

Website: www.partybusmemphis.com/

Business Email: info@partybusmemphis.com

Opening hour: 24/7

There's no way around the fact, that we simply love what we do! What is that? It is providing you and your friends, family, and colleagues with the ultimate experience in chauffeured luxury transportation.  While we do have amazing party buses, you'll be happy to know that our fleet contains wonderfully luxurious limousines as well as smaller luxury vehicles like SUV's and Sedans.  We have experience in providing the best for any and all special occasions, and would be honored to host the transportation for your next big day!

[96thdayofrage]

Jackson State University is being sued by Summitt Management Corporation after head coach Deion Sanders declared the team would officially be ending their participation in the Southern Heritage Classic.

The Southern Heritage Classic has been played every year since 1990 and pits Sanders’ Jackson State Tigers against the Tennessee State Tigers, other than in 1991 when Mississippi Valley State and in 1993 when Grambling State participated in place of Jackson State.

Jackson State and Tennessee State have met in the Southern Heritage Classic 28 times with Tennessee State leading the rivalry 17 to 11.

Recently, Deion Sanders announced that his Jackson State team would be ending its contract following the 2022 game, held annually at Memphis’ Liberty Bowl.

The team’s contract with the game runs through 2024, however.

As a result, according to FootballScoop.com, Summitt Management Corporation filed a lawsuit against Jackson State and the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

JSU had formally delivered notice to SMC Feb. 1 of this year to inform the Memphis-based company of its intention to end its participation in the rivalry contest that has, according to both parties, supplied millions in revenue through its history of pitting Jackson State against Tennessee State. JSU officials cited the SWAC as being the driving reason for its separation from the event.

“JSU’s governing athletic conference (SWAC) has entered into an agreement in which JSU’s (sic) will participate in events that conflict with the Southern Heritage Classic. Therefore, this correspondence shall serve as notice of JSU’s termination of its participation in the Southern Heritage Classic and the Agreement between the parties.” The letter was signed by Edward O. Watson, identified as General Counsel for JSU.

Jackson State coach Deion Sanders called the Southern Heritage Classic “a hustle”

“It’s a hustle,” Sanders said on the Pardon My Take podcast. “We’re losing money, tremendously. This particular classic that you’re talking about, first of all, why would two colleges need a promoter? You’re two colleges and you have A.D.s, why would you need a promoter, that’s No. 1.

“Secondly, I think the fee was like over 30 years, $6 million. That’s peanuts. So by the time you take seven buses for the band, four buses for the players, couple (buses) for people, assistants, hotel accommodations, food, you’re out of that. That $180-200 grand, you’re out of that. So you didn’t make nothing. You really came up there on a blank trip. We gotta stop that foolishness. The first thing we need to take care of as HBCUs is the business aspect of everything, and that’s something we’re changing right now. We’re taking care of business.”

Summitt Management Corporation claims it has given each school’s football team and band $6 million since the game was inaugurated in 1990.

Jackson State’s annual opponent in the game, Tennessee State, called Jackson State’s decision to pull out of the game “an insensitive and irresponsible act.”

"The Memphis business community, including small Black-owned businesses, many of which are mom and pop businesses, will suffer incalculable damage,” wrote Tennessee State president Glenda Glover. “These businesses rely on contracts that are generated as a result of activities associated with the game and purchase supplies and other items in preparation for this annual event.

“What’s even more disappointing is that there was no opportunity for discussion or a courtesy call to the TSU president, director of athletics, or head coach before the decision was made to breach the contract which has three years remaining. TSU found out from a national scheduler.”

This year’s game will take place on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022, with Jackson State participating. Should be fun.

The post Jackson State Getting Sued After Deion Sanders Calls Southern Heritage Classic ‘A Hustle’ appeared first on BroBible.

[blackkudos]

Harold Ford, Jr.

Harold Eugene Ford Sr. (born May 20, 1945) is an American politician and Democratic former member of the United States House of Representatives representing the Memphis, Tennessee area for 11 terms—from 1975 until his retirement in 1997. He was the first African-American to represent Tennessee in the U.S. Congress. He is a member of the Ford political family from Memphis.

During his 20 years in Congress, Ford obtained ample federal funds for his district through his membership on the House Ways and Means Committee. He advocated for increased government assistance for lower income constituents including job training, health care, and supplemental unemployment benefits with welfare as a safety net. He supported President Carter's initiatives to rebuild central cities, and opposed Reagan era cuts to programs such as Medicare and food stamps. He proposed welfare reform legislation to gradually transition recipients from welfare to work, but it was not passed.

His effectiveness was diminished following his 1987 indictment on bank fraud charges that alleged he had used business loans for his personal needs. Ford denied the charges and claimed the prosecution was racially and politically motivated. He lost his committee leadership roles but remained in Congress while the legal proceeding were pending. He was ultimately tried and acquitted in 1993 of all charges by a jury.

He chose to retire from Congress in 1996. His son Harold Jr. returned to Tennessee from New York and successfully ran for his seat. In his retirement, Harold Sr. has been active in Democratic Party affairs and has worked as a lobbyist. He lives in Florida and in the Hamptons.

Early life, education and family

Harold grew up on Horn Lake Road in the West Junction neighborhood of South Memphis. He is the eighth of fifteen children born to Newton Jackson Ford (1914–1986) and Vera (Davis) Ford (1915–1994), prominent members of the African-American community. His mother was a homemaker and his father was an undertaker and businessman, who opened N.J. Ford Funeral Home (later changed to N.J. Ford And Sons Funeral Home) in 1932. His grandfather Lewie Ford (1889-1931) started the family funeral business and became allied with E.H. Crump, an influential white politician in Memphis and the state in the early 20th century.

Ford and his family have a public service orientation which dates back to his great-grandfather Newton Ford (1856–1919), who was a well-respected civic leader around the southern section of Shelby County. Newton Ford was elected as a county squire from 1888 to 1900. N.J. Ford ran for the Tennessee House in 1966 but was not elected.

Harold Ford graduated from Geeter High School in 1963, received his B.S. degree from Tennessee State University in Nashville in 1967 and did graduate work there for one year. He received a mortuary science degree from John A. Gupton College of Nashville in 1969, and worked in the family business as a mortician from 1969 until 1974. In 1982, he earned a Master of Business Administration from Howard University.

Political career

State legislature

Ford was able to use his family's deep roots in Memphis to garner support within the affluent black community for his first run for office. He also ran an organized campaign and was able to take advantage of the increase in black voters that followed the Voting Rights Act. He was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1970, becoming one of its youngest members and one of only a few African Americans to have served in the Tennessee General Assembly to that point in the 20th century. He was made majority whip in his first term, and chaired a state house committee on utility rates and practices.

He was a delegate to Democratic State Convention and to the quadrennial Democratic National Conventions from 1972 through 1996.

U.S. House of Representatives

In 1974, after two terms in the Tennessee legislature, he ran for the Democratic nomination for the Memphis-based 8th U.S. Congressional district, easily beating three opponents. He faced four-term Republican incumbent Dan Kuykendall in the general election. At that time, the district still had a white majority, though the 1970 round of redistricting by the Tennessee legislature had redrawn the 8th to include more African-American voters. Ford ran on a bipartisan platform emphasizing economic development to attract both black and white voters. He waged a large and well organized get-out-the-vote campaign using paid workers, volunteers and his own considerable energy, and received support from black churches and celebrities. He was also able to take advantage of post Watergate dissatisfaction with the Republican Party. When the votes were first counted it looked like Kuykendall had eked out a narrow victory—but Ford ultimately won by 744 votes after contesting the original count.

Ford became the first African-American to represent Tennessee in the United States Congress. He was re-elected by large margins, locking in the black vote, and winning a large number of white votes in his district. After the 1983 census, the district was renumbered as the 9th District, and was drawn as a black-majority district. With the percentage of black voters increasing due to increased white flight, Ford then won re-election by gaining more than 70 percent of the vote. After he was indicted, he still garnered more than 50 percent of the vote.

He served on a number of House committees including: Banking, Currency and Housing; Veterans' Affairs, and the Select Committee on Assassinations that investigated the death, among others, of Martin Luther King Jr. He was a member of the influential House Ways and Means Committee beginning in 1975, and chaired the subcommittee on Public Assistance and Unemployment. He served as the chairman of the House Select Committee on Aging during the 102nd and 103rd Congresses.

Ford obtained ample federal funds for his district through his membership on the House Ways and Means Committee. He focused his work in Congress on helping lower income constituents. He advocated for increased federal government assistance for job training, health care, and unemployment supplemental benefits with welfare as a safety net. He supported Democratic President Carter's initiatives to rebuild central cities, and opposed cuts to programs such as Medicare and food stamps that were passed during the administration of Republican President Ronald Reagan. Ford proposed comprehensive welfare reform legislation to gradually transition recipients with children over the age of six from welfare to work. The legislation had a high start up cost due to the education and job training aspects, and was opposed by the Reagan administration.

Ford suffered in the eyes of many for the antics of his brother John Ford, who had been elected to the Tennessee State Senate in the same 1974 election. John Ford was accused, but never criminally convicted, of driving between Memphis and Nashville at high speeds while in possession of a legal firearm. Harold Ford said he had no control over his brother's actions.

Bribery trials

In 1987, federal prosecutors obtained an indictment against Ford from a grand jury in eastern Tennessee. The indictment was based on testimony from two bankers, both partners of Jake Butcher, who pled guilty to bank fraud under a plea bargain. Ford was charged in 18 counts of conspiracy and fraud accusing him of receiving nearly $1.5 million in loans from 1976 to 1983, that prosecutors alleged were actually bribes. Ford contended that the loans were legitimate business transactions used to extend loans to him and his family funeral home business.

A first trial in Memphis in 1990 ended in a mistrial with the jury deadlocked 8-4 along straight racial lines. The eight black jury members voted to acquit, and the four whites voted to convict. The judge granted the prosecutor's motion for retrial, and held that an impartial jury could not be found in Ford's hometown, the heavily Democratic and predominantly black city of Memphis where Ford was very popular. He ordered that the jury for the retrial be selected for a pool of jurors living 80 miles from Memphis in 17 heavily Republican and predominantly white rural counties. The jurors were to be bused into Memphis for the trial. Ford appealed this jury selection plan twice to the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on the ground that it violated his constitutional right to a jury of his peers; the appeals were denied twice. In 1993, Stuart Gerson, a hold-over Bush-appointee serving as acting Attorney General sided with Ford's request for a jury from Memphis, but the federal judge hearing the trial rejected the request. On April 9, 1993, a jury of 11 whites and 1 black acquitted Ford of all charges. During the seven year pendentcy of the criminal charges, Ford remained a U.S. Representative, but was stripped by Congress of his committee leadership roles. After his acquittal they were restored. In 1992, he had also been implicated in the House banking scandal.

Later career

Harold Jr., Ford's son, in 1996 returned to run for his retiring father's seat after having worked in New York City and completed his education at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Michigan Law School. The elder Ford publicly hoped that the confrontational stance that he had sometimes used, particularly with regard to race, would never need to be employed by his son.

Personal life

Ford married Dorothy Bowles in 1969 and the couple had three children: Harold, Newton Jake and Sir Isaac. They divorced in 1999. He then remarried to Michelle Roberts and had two children: Andrew Ford and Ava.

He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He is a Baptist. Currently retired, Ford divides his time between Tennessee and Fisher Island in Miami, Florida. He is still active in the Democratic Party.

[vettingsanders]

Bernie Sanders, Race, and Immigration

Two days before the 2016 general election, Sanders tweeted “I do not believe that most of the people who are thinking about voting for Mr. Trump are racist or sexist” https://twitter.com/berniesanders/status/794941635931099136?lang=en

 In 2015, during a meeting with police reform activist group Campaign Zero, Sanders responded to being asked why he thought a disproportionate amount of people of color were incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses with “Aren’t most of the people who sell the drugs African-American?”  Those present at the meeting stated, “Even confronted with figures and data to the contrary, Sanders appeared to have still struggled to grasp that he had made an error.” https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/rubycramer/bernie-sanders-revolution-needs-black-voters-to-win-but-can

Sanders opposed busing students of color to reduce racial segregation in schools, saying the practice was an example of “the government sometimes [doing] bad in the guise of good things.” Scan of article here

In 2019, Sanders asked if “ anybody think[s busing is] a good idea” following Senator Harris’s argument over busing with Vice President Biden at a DNC primary debate. https://www.mediaite.com/tv/bernie-sanders-knocks-busing-on-this-week-does-anybody-think-its-a-good-idea/

In 2018, fifteen racial and social justice leaders in Vermont, including multiple NAACP branch presidents, ACLU organizers, and BLM activists, sent an open letter to Sanders and the Sanders Institute to complain that they were “excluded” from the “national progressive movement that Senator Bernie Sanders is trying to foster.”  The letter asks “how could Senator Sanders host what is supposed to be an intersectional, progressive event without inviting the very people whom he serves?”  http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/vpr/files/201812/sanders-letter-2018.pdf

Curtiss Reed, Executive Director of the Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity, stated that the exclusion of Vermont POC from the Sanders Institute’s event was “a catastrophic failure of his sort of tone deafness to marginalized communities in the state of Vermont” and added “I’m tempted to say this is no longer a question of benign neglect on the part of the senator, but willful ignorance on his part not to include marginalized voices in this national conversation on the progressive movement.”   https://www.vpr.org/post/we-find-ourselves-excluded-racial-justice-leaders-ask-bernie-sanders-get-program#stream/0

Vermont Black leaders stated they were “invisible” to Sanders, and that the senator “was just really dismissive of anything that had to do with race and racism, saying that they didn’t have anything to do with the issues of income inequality.  He just always kept coming back to income inequality as a response, as if talking about income inequality would somehow make issues of racism go away.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/vermonts-black-leaders-we-were-invisible-to-bernie-sanders

In 2016, Sanders dismissed Secretary Clinton’s lead in primary votes with “a lot of that came from the South.” POC make up a huge bloc of southern Democrat voters.  https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-sen-bernie-sanders/story?id=38277617

When speaking in Jacksonville, Mississippi, on the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death, Sanders chose to criticize the Democratic party by saying “the business model, if you like, of the Democratic Party for the last 15 years or so has been a failure.  People sometimes don't see that because there was a charismatic individual named Barack Obama, who won the presidency in 2008 and 2012.” https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/rubycramer/bernie-sanders-revolution-needs-black-voters-to-win-but-can

At the same event, he focused on Dr. King as a champion of economic injustice rather than civil rights, saying, “All of us know where he was when he was assassinated 50 years ago today.  He was in Memphis to stand with low-income sanitation workers who were being exploited ruthlessly, whose wages were abysmally low, and who were trying to create a union. That's where he was. Because as the mayor just indicated, what he believed — and where he was a real threat to the establishment — is that of course we need civil rights in this country, but we also need economic justice.”

While speaking at the She the People presidential forum, Sanders was booed by women of color for being unable to say anything of substance regarding racial issues, instead just constantly reminding everyone that he marched with Dr. King decades ago. https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-met-with-boos-after-name-dropping-martin-luther-king-at-she-the-people-summit

Sanders voted for the 1994 crime bill https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/bernie-sanders-has-dodged-criticism-crime-bill-vote-while-others-n1020726

He touted his vote for the crime bill on his website at least until 2006, as proof he was “tough on crime” and “strong on the cops” https://web.archive.org/web/20061018180921/http:/www.bernie.org/truth/crime.html

In his 1998 autobiography, Sanders repeatedly used the n-word. He chose to keep the word in the text when republishing the book in 2015.  https://www.inquisitr.com/5620596/bernie-sanders-under-fire-for-use-of-n-word-in-2015-book-clip-from-audiobook-version-goes-viral-friday/

 The Sanders 2020 campaign hired and fired YouTuber Matt Orfalea within 24 hours after being alerted of his sexist, racist, homophobic, and ableist content, suggesting he was not vetted before his hiring https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/bernie-sanders-matt-orfalea-mlk-youtube-video/

 The campaign also hired and fired Darius Khalil Gordon after two days after being alerted of his sexist, racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, and ableist Tweets https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2019/12/bernie-sanders-new-head-organizer-called-people-fgs-bhes/

The campaign also hired former Women’s March leader Linda Sarsour as a campaign surrogate.  The Women’s March cut ties with Sarsour following anti-Semitic statements. https://nypost.com/2018/11/20/womens-march-founder-calls-on-current-leadership-to-step-down/

Sarsour was also condemned by the Anti-Defamation League for the statement that “a state like Israel that is based on supremacy, that is built on the idea that Jews are supreme to everyone else.” https://forward.com/news/national/435964/bernie-sanders-linda-sarsour-jewish-voters/

 Sanders opposes open borders as he feels they would lead to the global poor flooding the United States, making the country unable to fund universal health care and free college. https://psmag.com/news/bernie-says-immigration-threatens-the-social-safety-net-research-shows-otherwise

During a 2015 interview, Sanders called open borders a “Koch brothers proposal,” arguing that “what right-wing people in this country would love is an open-border policy. Bring in all kinds of people, work for $2 or $3 an hour, that would be great for them. I don't believe in that.”  https://www.vox.com/2015/7/28/9014491/bernie-sanders-vox-conversation

In 2007, Sanders voted against immigration reform.  In an interview with Lou Dobbs, he argued that the immigration reform proposals were pushed by “big money interests.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38M9vfg4TPE

[one-and-three-sevenths]

21 Questions Tag!

Thank you so much @rogersmeadows for tagging me!!! This has accidentally been sitting in my drafts for ages I’m so sorry lol

nicknames: I dont really have one, the only one who uses it is my mum lmao but “Lou”

zodiac sign: leo  (roger hmu)

height: 5′1.75 !!!! (.75 is very important when ur as smol as me)

hogwarts house: ok ok dont get me STARTED i was a big HP fan as a kid and ALL MY LIFE I was a Gryffindor (this is based off of Pottermore btw) and then I thought, hey I havent taken the test in a couple years, lets try again..... AND I GOT HUFFLEPUFF. I FEEL BETRAYED AND I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS. so tl;dr i’m a gryffindor

last thing i googled: taron egerton as eggsy 

fave musicians: ............ this is a queen blog so i mean???? but gosh my music is all over. I also love people like Conan Gray and Dodie and Hozier, but also stuff like Motley Crue (i do not condone the actual band) and Twenty One Pilots. i also like lots of indie shit. Apart from Queen tho I dont think I could choose favourites.

song stuck in your head: can’t help falling in love by Elvis Presley ... my mum just got back from memphis so theres a lot of Elvis in the house

following: 589! (I also run two other blogs so its not all Queen haha)

followers: 165 here!!! 1,383 on my main:)

do you get asks: almost never tbh!! I get one or two very rarely and they make my heart go !! every time cus i love interacting with you guys

amount of sleep: im currently running on about 7 hours but with no alarm and no commitments I can easily sleep 12+ hours in one go. My schedule is wack so sometimes im not even in bed till like 4am

lucky number: i dont have one!!! i kinda like the number 7, he seems cool

What are you wearing: a grey hoodie from my housing company (they gave them out on move-in day) and a pair of my bf’s boxers lmao comfy lyfe

dream job: i would really love something in the film industry. I thought I wanted to be a cinematographer but after my first year at uni, I’m not sure which exact job I want! but if it could be annything I wanna be a musician (singer).

dream trip: every trip? I think rn I want nothing more than a roadtrip in some hippie fan with my friends from North California to SoCal.

instruments: i sing!!!! I can play guitar, I’m better than beginner for sure but I wouldn’t actually say Im any good. I also play ukulele pretty well:) I used to play piano but I dont anymore. (ask/dm me if you’d like to see something of me playing!!)

languages: english and a small amount of spanish and hungarian!! but very small amounts

favourite songs: hhhhhhhhHhhhhhhHHHHHH these questions make me combust bc i cant come up with accurate answers. my CURRENT faves (as in, right now, it changes basically every day) would be: Close My Eyes by Hey Violet, Son and Daughter by Queen, Drowse by Queen, Guiltless by Dodie ????? idkkkkk

random fact: i have an outie belly button👀 only 10% of the population do! and mine is super rare bc it was caused by an umbilical hernia,,, (tmi??)

aethestic: the sun on your skin, acoustic guitars, dirt under your feet, hand-holding (with everyone), vanilla, building fairy gardens, drunken karaoke, candid Polaroid’s, cat eyes, dancing in your room, colour coded notes, cry laughing, dirty boots, afternoon naps, losing your voice at a concert, summer sunsets, losing your friends at a party, denim jackets, fairy lights, pillow forts, tattoos, short skirts, getting lost in the woods, London buses, loud music

I am tagging @cool--cats and @im-addicted-to-queen !!!

[orbemnews]

America's Amtrak moment could finally be here (CNN) — Created in 1971 from the creaking remains of the classic US railroads that helped build modern America, Amtrak has often lived a precarious existence. Subject to the whims of politicians in Washington D.C. and constantly under pressure from the well-funded and hugely influential oil, automotive and airline industry lobbies, the national passenger rail operator has been threatened with oblivion on several occasions. But as it celebrates a 50th anniversary that few would have been brave enough to predict, there are signs that Amtrak’s moment may finally have arrived. The United States remains firmly wedded to the automobile and the sheer size of the nation means that air travel is often the only option for long-distance journeys. Yet dotted across the country are numerous routes where population density and distances make rail a viable option — and a social necessity. That’s not news — those routes have existed since the earliest days of the railroads. What is novel is the renewed enthusiasm of Americans for commuting or taking long-distance leisure trips by train. What is most significant right now is the presence of a passionate Amtrak advocate in the White House. President Joe Biden, a long-time rail commuter rejoicing in the nickname “Amtrak Joe,” is calling on Congress to invest $80 billion in the rail network. This massive chunk of change is needed to address Amtrak’s repair backlog; modernize the flagship Northeast Corridor; improve existing corridors, create new intercity connections; and enhance grant and loan programs that support passenger and freight rail safety, efficiency and electrification. Battered remnants Amtrak could be on the brink of transformation as it celebrates 50 years. Courtesy Amtrak Amtrak has already secured $1.7 billion in federal funding under the “American Rescue Plan” to stimulate its recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, including reinstating suspended services and returning around 1,200 staff from furlough over the next two years. But finding the rest of the money Biden wants to transform passenger rail will require a huge political effort in Washington and across the nation, and a level of cross-party support for railroads not seen for many decades. Speaking at Philadelphia’s 30th Street station at an event to celebrate Amtrak’s anniversary on April 30, Biden spoke of being a proud member of the the rail network’s “family.” “Amtrak doesn’t just carry us from one place to another, it opens up enormous opportunities and it will make it possible to build the economy that we need,” he said. “The expansion of rail provides the well-paid jobs that we need in America. We can’t just build back, we have to build back better; Amtrak and intercity rail will play a central part in that.” There was no celebration when Amtrak’s first train rolled out of New York City on May 1, 1971, heading for Philadelphia. Passenger rail in the United States was in its death throes. Once proud railroads such as the New York Central and Pennsylvania RR went bankrupt after years of huge losses, their trains dated, dirty and unable to compete with the speed, comfort and modernity of airliners, intercity buses and contemporary cars. City center stations, not always in the best part of town, were dirty, dingy and dangerous with years of neglect and rising crime providing a further deterrent to passengers. Amtrak’s challenge was to knit together a disjointed collection of battered remnants, focusing its attention on saving the most viable routes. With a country as large as the United States, a coherent national passenger rail network of the type found in Europe and Japan was never a practical prospect. Instead, busy corridors such as Boston-New York-Washington D.C. would sit alongside a network of low-frequency (daily or less) long-distance services aimed at leisure travelers. In some cases, these trains were also necessary to maintain communications with communities that had grown up alongside the railroad — although countless towns were still abandoned as passenger rail services contracted in the 1950s and 1960s. New trains, faster speeds One of the new generation of Acela trains to be deployed on Amtrak’s lines. Courtesy Amtrak Today, Amtrak serves more than 500 destinations in 46 US states, the District of Columbia and three Canadian provinces on a network of more than 21,400 miles. In 2019, despite repeated threats to its existence and the prospect of swingeing budget cuts in every year of the Trump administration, the company posted its best-ever results. Between 2015 and 2019 annual operating losses fell from $306.5 million to just $29.8 million as new records were set for ridership and revenue. Operational breakeven was forecast for 2020, until the pandemic caused ridership to drop by almost 50%. A rendering of an Amtrak ALC-42 designed by Siemens. Courtesy Amtrak Despite that sudden and traumatic intervention, the overall trend of the last decade is growth, especially on the profitable Northeast Corridor, or NEC, linking Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington D.C. In his April 30 speech, Biden said: “A single day without the Northeast Corridor would cost the US economy $100 million and we’d have to add an extra seven lanes to the interstate to accommodate all the extra cars if it wasn’t there. Compared to the alternatives this railroad is the bargain of bargains.” Since the turn of the century, Amtrak has seen ridership increase in the corridor as a result of its 150 miles-per-hour Acela trains — introduced in 2000 — as well as road congestion and steadily rising gasoline prices. In 2022, the next generation of Acelas will enter service on the NEC. Built in the United States by global rail engineering giant Alstom, the 28 Avelia Liberty trains are derived from the latest iteration of France’s high-speed TGV trains. Fitted with tilting bodies to allow faster travel through curves and capable of 160 miles-per-hour in everyday service, the new trains offer the possibility of further acceleration to 186 miles-per-hour once the infrastructure allows it. Compared to the trains they will replace, the new $2.4 billion Acela fleet is bigger, with eight additional trains (28, rather than 20) allowing a more frequent service with more seats per train. ‘Enjoyable and efficient’ With airlines slashing short-haul routes in America, some see trains as the answer. Joe Raedle/Getty Images Prototype trains started testing at the Federal Railroad Administration’s test center in Pueblo, Colorado and on the NEC in 2020. By the end of that year, the trains had completed 20,000 miles of tests, reaching a maximum speed of 166.8 miles-per-hour at Pueblo. On April 21, another huge investment in new hardware was unveiled when a contract for 83 hybrid electro-diesel train sets was awarded to Siemens. Intended to replace almost 500 of the classic stainless steel Amfleet I cars dating from the mid-1970s, the new Intercity Trainsets will feature locomotives capable of working on diesel or electric power and comfortable new Venture passenger cars. The trains are expected to be similar to those now being delivered by Siemens for the Chicago-Milwaukee Hiawatha service. They will be deployed on medium-distance NEC services, the Palmetto between New York City and Savannah, Georgia and on the Portland-Seattle-Vancouver ‘Cascades’ route. “This new state-of-the-art equipment will not only provide Amtrak customers with an enjoyable and efficient travel experience, it will also enable us to improve safety, increase passenger capacity and reduce carbon emissions,” commented Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn. More Venture cars are also on order to replace life-expired vehicles on state-supported services in the Midwest and California, including 97 cars for routes radiating from Chicago to cities in Illinois, Michigan, Missouri and Wisconsin and 49 for the Bakersfield-Oakland/Sacramento San Joaquins. ‘The real America’ “If you really want to see the real America, Amtrak is better.” Joe Raedle/Getty Images Long-distance routes such as the Seattle-Los Angeles Coast Starlight and Chicago-San Francisco Southwest Chief will also gain new equipment for the first time in over two decades this year when 4,200 horsepower Charger locomotives and 130 new Viewliner II sleeping, dining and baggage cars start to be rolled out. While the long-distance routes are unlikely to play a significant role in US transportation needs, they are a valuable asset for tourism and the often-isolated communities they serve. Sean Jeans-Gail, vice-president of government affairs and policy at the US Rail Passengers Association, highlights the network’s potential to give travelers a real connection to the nation it criss-crosses. “We have an extraordinary, beautiful country but the ‘Great American Road Trip’ is on life support because when you do it you hit traffic and the same homogenized strip malls over and over again across the highway network,” he tells CNN. “If you really want to see the real America, Amtrak is better.” Intercity and interurban routes away from the NEC offer Amtrak the greatest opportunity for growth in the coming years. Airlines have slashed back regional flights of around 300-400 miles in recent years, leaving many cities such as Memphis and Cincinnati with poor communications. These routes offer huge potential for rail, which is competitive with air for journeys of three to four hours between city centers, while at the same time transforming connectivity for towns in between. Jim Mathews, president and CEO of the US Rail Passengers Association says these factors present a strong case for reversing the dismantling of rail services and enhancing links between rural and urban centers. He says transportation planners and the Department of Transport are coming around to this way of thinking, looking at shifting populations and how they create new travel patterns, particularly in the Midwest and Southeast. But, he says, although America could be on the brink of a rail revolution, it is unlikely to be traveling at any great velocity. “A lot of us are guilty of getting zeroed in on the shiny object,” he tells CNN. “Sure TGV [high-speed rail] would be cool but it’s not necessary to see dramatic improvements in rail travel. “With targeted investment in track, straightening curves or new signaling you could get average speeds of up to 79 miles-per-hour. There are places now where the average is 25!” In his April 30 speech, Biden said his spending plans were crucial to leveling up America on the global stage. “I propose spending $10 billion a year on passenger and freight rail, repairing this vital infrastructure and expanding passenger rail services,” he said. “It’s going to provide jobs and accommodate jobs — towns that have been left behind will be back in the game if we can provide them with fast, clean, safe infrastructure. “We’re way behind the rest of the world on this now, and we have to move if we’re going to compete with the likes of China. There’s so much we can do, and it can have an incredibly positive impact on jobs and the environment, but we have to invest now.” ‘Worthwhile ambition’ Investment could see Amtraks trains and infrastructure upgraded to allow ehnahced speeds. oe Raedle/Getty Images Republicans have proposed an alternative infrastructure plan costed at $538 billion, just $20 billion of which would be dedicated to rail improvements. Amtrak estimates that the Northeast Corridor alone requires $31 billion to overcome a repairs backlog. Much-needed investment in equipment is also being accompanied by federal spending on infrastructure as part of President Biden’s $621 billion American Jobs Plan but there’s also increasing support at state level. In late March, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Virginia Governor Ralph Northam outlined a 10-year program to expand intercity and regional rail services across the state. As well as investing in infrastructure improvements, Virginia also plans to double its financial support for Amtrak’s Washington-Richmond intercity route, allowing a near-hourly service to operate and commuter rail operations could increase by up to 60%. More than 200 miles of little-used, abandoned or freight-only lines could also be acquired at a cost of $3.7 billion to allow the reinstatement and expansion of intercity and regional rail services across the state. “I think there’s support coalescing both on left and right for investment in rail and I’m confident that the Biden team sees it as a worthwhile ambition for the current administration,” Mathews adds. “They’ve talked about more electrification for rail, a nod to the ‘Green New Deal’ but also an important preparatory step for high-speed rail. One thing we’re terrible at compared with Europe is the lack of electrified railroads. “There are limitations that come with that, but I can see much more robust electrification in California which is preparing for high-speed rail. “Californian electrification would have benefits for the environment, speed and maintenance and I can see the Biden administration going very solidly for it.” Fifty years on from US rail’s darkest days, the stars seem to be aligning for Amtrak at last. And while it will always be at the mercy of shifting political priorities and competing interests, there is a growing recognition that the world’s richest nation can no longer get by with a public transportation system that many regard as unfit for purpose. Source link Orbem News #America'sAmtrakmomentcouldfinallybehere-CNN #Americas #Amtrak #FINALLY #Moment #Travel

[nationwidecarservice]

15 Reasons to Choose a Party Bus Rental for Your Next Event in Memphis

Are you planning a special event or celebration in Memphis? Whether it's a birthday bash, bachelor/bachelorette party, wedding, or corporate outing, choosing our party bus rental can elevate your experience to the next level. Here are 15 compelling reasons why our Memphis party bus rental is the perfect choice for your next event in Memphis.

Spacious Accommodations: Our Party buses offer ample space for you and your guests to move around comfortably, ensuring everyone can socialize and enjoy the festivities.

Entertainment Options: Our party buses come equipped with state-of-the-art sound systems, LED lighting, and entertainment systems to keep the party going throughout the journey.

Onboard Amenities: From plush seating to mini-bars and dance floors, our party buses are designed with luxury and comfort in mind, providing all the amenities you need for an unforgettable experience.

Safe Transportation: With our professional chauffeur at the wheel, you can relax and enjoy the ride without worrying about navigating through traffic or finding parking.

Convenience: Our Party buses pick you up and drop you off at your desired location, eliminating the need for designated drivers or coordinating multiple vehicles.

Customizable Packages: Whether you're planning a short trip around town or a full-day excursion, Nationwide Chauffeured Services offer customizable packages to suit your specific needs and budget.

Memorable Experience: Riding in a party bus adds an element of excitement and glamour to any event, creating lasting memories for you and your guests.

VIP Treatment: Feel like a celebrity as you arrive at your destination in style, turning heads and making a grand entrance wherever you go.

Photo Opportunities: Our Party buses provide the perfect backdrop for photos and selfies, allowing you to capture every moment of your special occasion.

Stress-Free Planning: With our party bus rental, all the logistics of transportation are taken care of, allowing you to focus on enjoying your event to the fullest.

Flexibility: Whether you're planning a small gathering or a large-scale event, our party buses come in various sizes and configurations to accommodate your group size and preferences.

Local Expertise: Nationwide Chauffeured Services is familiar with the ins and outs of Memphis, ensuring that you'll be taken to all the best spots and attractions in the city.

Round-the-Clock Availability: Whether you're celebrating during the day or partying into the night, our party bus rental services are available 24/7 to cater to your needs.

Eco-Friendly Option: By traveling together in a single vehicle, our party buses help reduce carbon emissions and minimize your environmental impact.

Affordable Luxury: Despite their luxurious amenities, our party bus rentals are surprisingly affordable, offering excellent value for money compared to other transportation options.

Choosing a party bus rental with us for your next event in Memphis is a decision you won't regret. With spacious accommodations, entertainment options, and VIP treatment, our party bus ensures that your celebration is one to remember. Contact Nationwide Chauffeured Services at (800) 942-6281 to book your Party Bus Rental Saginaw and make your event a memorable success.

Source: https://nationwidecarcom.wordpress.com/2024/03/19/15-reasons-to-choose-a-party-bus-rental-for-your-next-event-in-memphis/

[dipulb3]

America's Amtrak moment could finally be here

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/americas-amtrak-moment-could-finally-be-here/

America's Amtrak moment could finally be here

(Appradab) — Created in 1971 from the creaking remains of the classic US railroads that helped build modern America, Amtrak has often lived a precarious existence.

Subject to the whims of politicians in Washington D.C. and constantly under pressure from the well-funded and hugely influential oil, automotive and airline industry lobbies, the national passenger rail operator has been threatened with oblivion on several occasions.

But as it celebrates a 50th anniversary that few would have been brave enough to predict, there are signs that Amtrak’s moment may finally have arrived.

The United States remains firmly wedded to the automobile and the sheer size of the nation means that air travel is often the only option for long-distance journeys.

Yet dotted across the country are numerous routes where population density and distances make rail a viable option — and a social necessity.

That’s not news — those routes have existed since the earliest days of the railroads. What is novel is the renewed enthusiasm of Americans for commuting or taking long-distance leisure trips by train.

What is most significant right now is the presence of a passionate Amtrak advocate in the White House.

President Joe Biden, a long-time rail commuter rejoicing in the nickname “Amtrak Joe,” is calling on Congress to invest $80 billion in the rail network.

This massive chunk of change is needed to address Amtrak’s repair backlog; modernize the flagship Northeast Corridor; improve existing corridors, create new intercity connections; and enhance grant and loan programs that support passenger and freight rail safety, efficiency and electrification.

Battered remnants

Amtrak could be on the brink of transformation as it celebrates 50 years.

Courtesy Amtrak

Amtrak has already secured $1.7 billion in federal funding under the “American Rescue Plan” to stimulate its recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, including reinstating suspended services and returning around 1,200 staff from furlough over the next two years.

But finding the rest of the money Biden wants to transform passenger rail will require a huge political effort in Washington and across the nation, and a level of cross-party support for railroads not seen for many decades.

Speaking at Philadelphia’s 30th Street station at an event to celebrate Amtrak’s anniversary on April 30, Biden spoke of being a proud member of the the rail network’s “family.”

“Amtrak doesn’t just carry us from one place to another, it opens up enormous opportunities and it will make it possible to build the economy that we need,” he said. “The expansion of rail provides the well-paid jobs that we need in America. We can’t just build back, we have to build back better; Amtrak and intercity rail will play a central part in that.”

There was no celebration when Amtrak’s first train rolled out of New York City on May 1, 1971, heading for Philadelphia.

Passenger rail in the United States was in its death throes. Once proud railroads such as the New York Central and Pennsylvania RR went bankrupt after years of huge losses, their trains dated, dirty and unable to compete with the speed, comfort and modernity of airliners, intercity buses and contemporary cars.

City center stations, not always in the best part of town, were dirty, dingy and dangerous with years of neglect and rising crime providing a further deterrent to passengers.

Amtrak’s challenge was to knit together a disjointed collection of battered remnants, focusing its attention on saving the most viable routes.

With a country as large as the United States, a coherent national passenger rail network of the type found in Europe and Japan was never a practical prospect.

Instead, busy corridors such as Boston-New York-Washington D.C. would sit alongside a network of low-frequency (daily or less) long-distance services aimed at leisure travelers.

In some cases, these trains were also necessary to maintain communications with communities that had grown up alongside the railroad — although countless towns were still abandoned as passenger rail services contracted in the 1950s and 1960s.

New trains, faster speeds

One of the new generation of Acela trains to be deployed on Amtrak’s lines.

Courtesy Amtrak

Today, Amtrak serves more than 500 destinations in 46 US states, the District of Columbia and three Canadian provinces on a network of more than 21,400 miles.

In 2019, despite repeated threats to its existence and the prospect of swingeing budget cuts in every year of the Trump administration, the company posted its best-ever results.

Between 2015 and 2019 annual operating losses fell from $306.5 million to just $29.8 million as new records were set for ridership and revenue.

Operational breakeven was forecast for 2020, until the pandemic caused ridership to drop by almost 50%.

A rendering of an Amtrak ALC-42 designed by Siemens.

Courtesy Amtrak

Despite that sudden and traumatic intervention, the overall trend of the last decade is growth, especially on the profitable Northeast Corridor, or NEC, linking Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington D.C.

In his April 30 speech, Biden said: “A single day without the Northeast Corridor would cost the US economy $100 million and we’d have to add an extra seven lanes to the interstate to accommodate all the extra cars if it wasn’t there. Compared to the alternatives this railroad is the bargain of bargains.”

Since the turn of the century, Amtrak has seen ridership increase in the corridor as a result of its 150 miles-per-hour Acela trains — introduced in 2000 — as well as road congestion and steadily rising gasoline prices.

In 2022, the next generation of Acelas will enter service on the NEC. Built in the United States by global rail engineering giant Alstom, the 28 Avelia Liberty trains are derived from the latest iteration of France’s high-speed TGV trains.

Fitted with tilting bodies to allow faster travel through curves and capable of 160 miles-per-hour in everyday service, the new trains offer the possibility of further acceleration to 186 miles-per-hour once the infrastructure allows it.

Compared to the trains they will replace, the new $2.4 billion Acela fleet is bigger, with eight additional trains (28, rather than 20) allowing a more frequent service with more seats per train.

‘Enjoyable and efficient’

With airlines slashing short-haul routes in America, some see trains as the answer.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Prototype trains started testing at the Federal Railroad Administration’s test center in Pueblo, Colorado and on the NEC in 2020. By the end of that year, the trains had completed 20,000 miles of tests, reaching a maximum speed of 166.8 miles-per-hour at Pueblo.

On April 21, another huge investment in new hardware was unveiled when a contract for 83 hybrid electro-diesel train sets was awarded to Siemens.

Intended to replace almost 500 of the classic stainless steel Amfleet I cars dating from the mid-1970s, the new Intercity Trainsets will feature locomotives capable of working on diesel or electric power and comfortable new Venture passenger cars.

The trains are expected to be similar to those now being delivered by Siemens for the Chicago-Milwaukee Hiawatha service. They will be deployed on medium-distance NEC services, the Palmetto between New York City and Savannah, Georgia and on the Portland-Seattle-Vancouver ‘Cascades’ route.

“This new state-of-the-art equipment will not only provide Amtrak customers with an enjoyable and efficient travel experience, it will also enable us to improve safety, increase passenger capacity and reduce carbon emissions,” commented Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn.

More Venture cars are also on order to replace life-expired vehicles on state-supported services in the Midwest and California, including 97 cars for routes radiating from Chicago to cities in Illinois, Michigan, Missouri and Wisconsin and 49 for the Bakersfield-Oakland/Sacramento San Joaquins.

‘The real America’

“If you really want to see the real America, Amtrak is better.”

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Long-distance routes such as the Seattle-Los Angeles Coast Starlight and Chicago-San Francisco Southwest Chief will also gain new equipment for the first time in over two decades this year when 4,200 horsepower Charger locomotives and 130 new Viewliner II sleeping, dining and baggage cars start to be rolled out.

While the long-distance routes are unlikely to play a significant role in US transportation needs, they are a valuable asset for tourism and the often-isolated communities they serve.

Sean Jeans-Gail, vice-president of government affairs and policy at the US Rail Passengers Association, highlights the network’s potential to give travelers a real connection to the nation it criss-crosses.

“We have an extraordinary, beautiful country but the ‘Great American Road Trip’ is on life support because when you do it you hit traffic and the same homogenized strip malls over and over again across the highway network,” he tells Appradab.

“If you really want to see the real America, Amtrak is better.”

Intercity and interurban routes away from the NEC offer Amtrak the greatest opportunity for growth in the coming years.

Airlines have slashed back regional flights of around 300-400 miles in recent years, leaving many cities such as Memphis and Cincinnati with poor communications.

These routes offer huge potential for rail, which is competitive with air for journeys of three to four hours between city centers, while at the same time transforming connectivity for towns in between.

Jim Mathews, president and CEO of the US Rail Passengers Association says these factors present a strong case for reversing the dismantling of rail services and enhancing links between rural and urban centers.

He says transportation planners and the Department of Transport are coming around to this way of thinking, looking at shifting populations and how they create new travel patterns, particularly in the Midwest and Southeast.

But, he says, although America could be on the brink of a rail revolution, it is unlikely to be traveling at any great velocity.

“A lot of us are guilty of getting zeroed in on the shiny object,” he tells Appradab. “Sure TGV [high-speed rail] would be cool but it’s not necessary to see dramatic improvements in rail travel.

“With targeted investment in track, straightening curves or new signaling you could get average speeds of up to 79 miles-per-hour. There are places now where the average is 25!”

In his April 30 speech, Biden said his spending plans were crucial to leveling up America on the global stage.

“I propose spending $10 billion a year on passenger and freight rail, repairing this vital infrastructure and expanding passenger rail services,” he said. “It’s going to provide jobs and accommodate jobs — towns that have been left behind will be back in the game if we can provide them with fast, clean, safe infrastructure.

“We’re way behind the rest of the world on this now, and we have to move if we’re going to compete with the likes of China. There’s so much we can do, and it can have an incredibly positive impact on jobs and the environment, but we have to invest now.”

‘Worthwhile ambition’

Investment could see Amtraks trains and infrastructure upgraded to allow ehnahced speeds.

oe Raedle/Getty Images

Republicans have proposed an alternative infrastructure plan costed at $538 billion, just $20 billion of which would be dedicated to rail improvements. Amtrak estimates that the Northeast Corridor alone requires $31 billion to overcome a repairs backlog.

Much-needed investment in equipment is also being accompanied by federal spending on infrastructure as part of President Biden’s $621 billion American Jobs Plan but there’s also increasing support at state level.

In late March, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Virginia Governor Ralph Northam outlined a 10-year program to expand intercity and regional rail services across the state.

As well as investing in infrastructure improvements, Virginia also plans to double its financial support for Amtrak’s Washington-Richmond intercity route, allowing a near-hourly service to operate and commuter rail operations could increase by up to 60%.

More than 200 miles of little-used, abandoned or freight-only lines could also be acquired at a cost of $3.7 billion to allow the reinstatement and expansion of intercity and regional rail services across the state.

“I think there’s support coalescing both on left and right for investment in rail and I’m confident that the Biden team sees it as a worthwhile ambition for the current administration,” Mathews adds.

“They’ve talked about more electrification for rail, a nod to the ‘Green New Deal’ but also an important preparatory step for high-speed rail. One thing we’re terrible at compared with Europe is the lack of electrified railroads.

“There are limitations that come with that, but I can see much more robust electrification in California which is preparing for high-speed rail.

“Californian electrification would have benefits for the environment, speed and maintenance and I can see the Biden administration going very solidly for it.”

Fifty years on from US rail’s darkest days, the stars seem to be aligning for Amtrak at last.

And while it will always be at the mercy of shifting political priorities and competing interests, there is a growing recognition that the world’s richest nation can no longer get by with a public transportation system that many regard as unfit for purpose.

[rabbitfootrambles-blog]

PRIVATE LIFE OF THE RABBIT

Chapter One: Kingston Road to Bexhill and back. 

1.

One late December night I got in from a long day at the office to find Peggy and her mother squatting on the sofa. They each gripped a sketchpad and pencil and drew furiously. A dead hare was laid out on the table in front of them, legs askew. What with no cooker and the dead hare that table never was much used for social dining. On the plus side, the house on Kingston Road did provide us with two ample floors on which to starve. Such japes were funded by my improbable job in senior management.

I was addicted to Peggy. She was a wide-hipped brunette with pouty red lips and a wicked witch’s cackle. Her unpaid occupation as a performance artist involved gleeful pursuits such as staging wolf impressions in Hoxton galleries, and tying her hair to oak trees while chain-smoking. I can’t imagine a more glamorous way to bankrupt yourself. 

We met on a train in 2002. It only took one afternoon of drinking dry martinis in the National Film Theatre bar to get me hooked. I clocked by the third glass that Peggy was the devil in disguise. Still I crawled back for more. 

In the years which followed we watched silent movies together. We went to launch parties and got wildly drunk for free. We travelled across London on Route-master buses, and never paid the fare. We circulated with confidence, and spilled wine on her landlady’s Maria Callas LPs. And in October 2005 we pulled ourselves of the floor of a Dalston warehouse, and moved to this Oxford madhouse. 

One Saturday morning we were planted on the sofa, trying to warm our hands up on a couple of ice cubes, when Peggy said suddenly, “why don’t you come and play Brian’s cabaret?” I hadn’t played music for a decade. How could a bungling hound such as I dream of spoiling the show? 

But I didn’t realise was that this was not any old cabaret. No, no, no.

THIS was an ART cabaret. 

And so, as yet unnamed, the Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band came springing out of Peggy’s womb.

2.

One hour later I cruised across town and knocked on the door of the Reverend Tommy Costello.Standing at just under six-feet-eight, he had developed a hunchback while squatting through 24-years of life. His house, off the Iffley road in East Oxford, exacerbated the problem. 

Wildly squinting jazz tourists may still seek it out. Number 87 sits squashed among a bundle of terraces as though, while thinking only of his lunch, a builder sought to balance a slither of cucumber between two fat slabs of bread. 

Tom achieved nonchalance over such problems through a daily dosset box of paperbacks and weed, but life had not always been this relaxed. I was impressed to discover how, on moving out of a previous rented house in Durham, he clawed his deposit from a landlord by lying on his chest and trimming the back lawn with a pair of nail scissors. In front of the landlord. Such ingenuity extended to music. 

On the day I met him I learnt that Tom had constructed a banjo out of a biscuit tin and some sticks. And that he played a mean ukulele. His model was bright red. He may have acquired it from Poundland. If I was to make this cabaret intact I needed an accompanist. 

A few knocks later, a crack appeared. The door stopped at the bolt, checking I was not from Thames Valley Police. Reassured, the door opened. Tom ducked several feet beneath the jamb and re-emerged into the outside world. His head floated just beneath the sill of the upstairs window. 

Tom, the hot ukulele man. Hair like a yeti and a lawless beard to match. He wore the same Aran jumper every day as it was the only item of clothing he could find long enough to fit him. As a result, he continually looked as though he had just returned from a fishing trip on the North Sea. Corduroy trousers were another perennial part of his attire. Ever fashion conscious, he refused to speak with anyone who wore jeans. Furthermore, I have nothing but respect for a man who disowned his childhood best friend because they sent him a request to join Facebook.  

“Tommy,” I exhaled, introducing my fag-end to its new friends on the doorstep, “how would you like to come and play ukulele in a cabaret?”

He looked reluctant. And I didn’t even tell him it was an art cabaret.   

Annie, his significant other, marched in from work at about five o’clock that evening to find us hanging off the living room floor. Their previous housemate had recently fled, escaping with his rent money and all the crockery and glasses. So we had spent all afternoon listen to the Memphis Jug Band, and drinking red wine out of jam-jars. This continued long into the night. 

I broke the news that the cabaret was to be help at the De La Warr Pavilion, on the seafront at Bexhill-on-Sea. The average age of the punters would be about 87, so if we fucked it up there was a high chance they wouldn’t remember. The Pavilion was built in 1935 which, as Spike Milligan once quipped, meant it was opened “just in time to be bombed.” 

“Tommy-Wommy,” Annie pressed, rolling a stick of the mighty mezz, “it’s quite the opportunity. Stuart can wear yellow and you can wear a red dress and high heels. You’ll be as a tall as a staircase.” 

“I don’t know babe,” he puffed back, “Bexhill is far, far away. Besides, I don’t like heels and I’m worried my strings will break.”

“Then play string-less ukulele. It could be a new thing.”

“It would,” I butted-in, “look…magnificent.”

Annie took a pensive drag. “You could cause a riot with your string-less ukulele, and then everyone could hold hands and sing “I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside.” 

And so it was that she convinced Tom to play the cabaret.  I’ve pondered why it is always women who are so keen to kick-start these projects. And I’ve concluded it’s because they can’t wait to get us out of the house.    

3. 

Drinking wine out of jam jars is a staple feature in hipster bars nowadays. In my head I hear dishwashers clanging in the backrooms of Rivington Street pseudo-dives, at a rate of two hundred jam jars per hour. The folks down Shoreditch can’t eat jam fast enough to keep up with the demand. For us, buying new wine glasses was off the cards for practical reasons – we had blown all our money on records. Jazz, blues, country and gospel. Maybe a little Hawaiian music when it took our fancy. 

Records sound best when they’ve been lived in. Modern record producers claim they can digitally reproduce the sound of crackle. But it’s not the same crackle you get after repeatedly spinning a Jelly Roll Morton 10” LP across the room so your partner in crime can read what’s on the label - “damn, I knew this one would sound better after we dropped the fag ash on it.” Did you ever try to spill fag ash on an MP3? It’s impossible. 

You can have fun with old records too. If it was up to me, schoolchildren would use them as frisbees. I’d put it in the national curriculum – playtime with Parlophone.  And they double as dummies. When my daughter was six months old she took a copy of the Parnassie Sessions with Tommy Ladnier on trumpet and Mezz Mezzrow on clarinet out of its sleeve, and put it in her mouth. I tell you she didn’t cry once all the time she was sucking that record. And it has sounded better ever since. 

78s are the monarch of records. If you’ve ever carried a box of 78s across town your shoulders will feel the weight. They’re so heavy that once I had to stop on my way to the record player to have a nap. By the time the needle hit the disc, I had arms as strong as a bricklayer’s. If you see my biceps all blown up it doesn’t mean I’ve been to the gym – it means I’ve been buying 78s on eBay.

4.

Over the following weeks rehearsals, of a sort, ensued. The first revelation that came from these rehearsals is that I can’t make any sounds approaching a tune while playing a banjo, let alone one that has been made out of biscuit tin. 

My technique, and I didn’t learn this from reading an instruction manual, was to throttle it around the next with my left hand while my right hand banged downwards, in the manner of someone trying to bash mud off their tent after a damp weekend at Glastonbury. Tom had also developed his own method for playing the ukulele. I call it the Costello method. His original intention was to launch into flamboyant solos constructed from quick-witted runs of notes, with each note sounding out like a sexual conquest.  The reality was that between is, I’ll put this nicely, it was difficult to pin us down to anyone particular genre. 

Our aim was jazz, of course. Naturally it’s difficult to replicate the sounds of a full jazz band using only a banjo and ukulele but we had other tricks. Tom would occasionally put his uke down and blow harmonica which, in its upper register, sometimes gave out a sound approaching that of a clarinet, and sometimes that of a cat who had been trodden on. I bent a metal coat hanger into the shape of the letter “O” and sellotaped a green plastic kazoo halfway around it. Whenever we felt a trumpet solo coming on I would use my left shoulder to lift the coat hanger up a few inches until I gripped the kazoo in my mouth. Hence, with the addition of slapping our shoes on the ground in imitation of a drummer, and some imagination, we considered ourselves Oxford’s equivalent of the Original Memphis Five.  Meanwhile Amy rolled another spliff.  

5.

No-one who likes this music ever asked me how I got “into jazz,” but almost everyone else does. I started buying jazz records when I was about 12 because I didn’t want to listen to the same music as my class mates. I refer to them as the Clearasil crew - a crew time has stuffed into vitrines alongside the music of Bros, fluorescent socks, and the art of long-distance spitting. 

Yet when I think of them we are still all sat in a frozen portacabin, furthering out ambitions to fail GCSE maths by locking Mrs Rubberlips in the stationary cupboard. These were the conditions under which I began to dream of New Orleans. 

I pined for an age of black and white. Where the folks were better dressed. When they knew how to dance. And when, as I later discovered, they would have had the decency to keep the stationary cupboard permanently under lock and key. So my musical career started with Hollywood musicals. Fred and Ginger. Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler. Judy Garland. But it was Louis Armstrong who ensnared me. 

The epiphany came in Bath, June 1986. St Louis Blues hit like a bomb blast. My foundations never recovered. There were two records in particular we used to copy at these rehearsals. The first was “Big Butter and Egg Man”, originally recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1926. I’m getting tired of working all day / I want somebody who wants me to play. I read it was written in dedication to a producer of dairy products who used to frequent the Sunset Café in Chicago. I like to think there really was an enormous bellied businessman sat there, puffing at a cigar and rolling his eyes at goods he knew money couldn’t buy. 

The second was a tune called “Glad Rag Doll”, which we never got the hang of on account of it being in Eb and Tom’s hands being too big to get his fingers around the strings. 

We got the chords out of a book entitled Its Easy To Play Jazz. As the Pogues’ Spider Stacey once said of learning the tin whistle, “it looked easy. I very soon realised my mistake. It isn’t easy at all.”

I use the word “rehearsal” loosely, but we had good intentions. And there was one original I had written, “White Youth In Crisis” which I had demoed with of all people the bass player from the Jesus and Mary Chain. It was a curious choice. But having failed to memorise any of the others it was this one we took with us when the morning of the cabaret dawned.   

6.

In the intervening weeks Peggy fine-tuned her performance. Her preparations included watching Japanese pornography on a laptop acquired with an arts council grant. On the eve of the cabaret she packed a suitcase with props and made her way to the venue. The journey was made in a coach, hired exclusively for use by performance artists. It probably turned into a pumpkin the moment they stepped off. 

Alas there was no room for me and Tom so we made the trip in his off-white Ford Fiesta. He confided, as we hit the road, that the car cost £150. However, he aimed to make half of that back when he sold it for scrap. From the way it jolted down the motorway to Bexhill, I think that day was fast approaching. Annie reclined in the back with the banjo and ukulele. 

“Babe,” Tom noted as we reversed onto the M23, “I wish you wouldn’t roll them so fat when I am trying to drive.” 

On arrival we found preparations in full swing. A box of Becks lager lit up our dressing room. Next to it was some seaweed in a plastic bag. It appeared that someone had gone for a swim. We found Peggy rehearsing with two other performers in a gazebo which overlooked the English Channel. By the time the audience began to arrive the tension was audible.

7.

I’d never been to a cabaret. Whatever I was expecting wasn’t this. The curtain rose at half-past seven to reveal the organiser’s son, dressed as a fox. He introduced the acts which followed. First of all, three women stood on stools, wearing wigs made from bin liners. They gargled water for approximately 15 minutes. A handful of spectators, sat around cabaret tables, applauded modestly, as though watching someone else’s children at a primary school play.  Next, kneeling in the orchestra pit in a kimono, Peggy sang Cole Porter’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” to the tune of Cole Porter’s “Night and Day,” in a voice which would have broken Judy Garland’s tonsils. 

Our turn in the spotlight came halfway through the second act. Tom began by strumming D, F# minor, G, and then a chord which I don’t think anyone has invented a name for yet. I leaned into the microphone.  “Mother,” I hollered,” I’ve lost all ambition.”

“Tell it like it is brother Stuart,” offered Tom. I then threw in what might loosely be described as a dance move. 

No-one clapped. 

Backstage they urged that we were among the best acts of the night. Peggy said that my outstretched arms had thrown a shadow on the black curtain behind us in such a way that I resembled someone in the process of being crucified. 

Meanwhile Annie overheard a member of the bar staff comment that the cabaret was the worst thing they had seen in 20 years of working at the venue.  

When we got back to Oxford I had a surprise. Peggy’s mother had moved in.

8. 

Peggy didn’t have much in the way of possessions, having once thrown away everything she owned. But what she had kept was revealing.

On the rocking chair upstairs were a wolf skin and head she acquired while driving through the Arizona desert. On the desk she kept a foetus in a jar. There was one book, on the the three wise men (and gang I clearly hadn’t been asked to join).

Finally there were a few clothes, her laptop and one DVD, entitled The Beast. As a result of this sparse ensemble I calculate it took her and her mother five minutes to pack the lot into the boot of their two-seat convertible and return to Scotland. It was Holy Innocent’s Day, 28 December. 

On their way out, they’d trampled a Christmas tree into the carpet - so at least they left the place looking festive.

“I’m not surprised she left you,” Tom gestured later, “I couldn’t live in a house with no kitchen.

“It’s the rats I feel sorry for.” 

The remaining 10 months of the tenancy dragged out. From here-on it was just me and a Bessie Smith record.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

[ramrodd]

What factors explained the growing tensions between SNCC and SCLC and the increased criticism of Martin Luther King by SNCC members?

COMMENTARY:

The over-arching ideology of these African-American coalitions is the Trotsky Insurgency Process of the Port Huron Statement of 1962 that established the Students for a Democratic Society. The SDS began as an umbrella structure for the white anti-war movement and the civil rights movement, which included a lot of the white anti-war activists who didn’t see any difference from marching against the war at Berkley and riding the Freedom Buses into Mississippi, and Black civil rights organizations clustered around the success of Brown v. Board of Education and the civil rights movement that showed up for MLK’s “I have a dream” speech. Go look at that crowd: the white people that showed up for that gathering are the same white people who showed up at Grant Park during the 1968 Police Riots.

And the black folks were largely the people involved in the SNCC and SCLC alienation before MLK was killed. The SNCC black folks, mostly young activists just before the Black Panthers changed the whole nature of the civil rights movment. The Black Panthers and the Weather Underground emerged about the same time and, in a Trotsky Insurgency Process, as opposed to a Ghandi Civil Disobedience Process, the process, itself, begins to evolve the social components of violent revolution.

W.E.B. Dubois happens to be one of my intellectual heroes, speaking as a cousin of Woodie Wilson but from the Emancipation Proclamation side of the family, I admired the courage and boldness of the entire black civil rights movement, starting with Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks. And those are the women. And the break point for SNCC and SCLC was the failure of MLK to make the final leg of the Freedom Ride or to take his share of abuse in jail. SNCC (as a proxy for all the more radical, direct action agenda which, in Vietnam, manifest as Black Power, which is another thread of the same story, but, what SNCC didn’t understand until Memphis was that it was just a matter of time until that uppity nigger got gunned down.

I mean, the Black Muslims had demonstrated how to deal with an uppity nigger when Nation of Islam Mosque 25 in Newark arranged for Malcom X to get gunned down, so, if the possibility of white folks I generally connect with the domestic terrorism of the 2nd Amendment white supremacist ammosexuals of Charlottesville not creating an opportunity to match the Nation of Islam ever arose, the possiblity that they would not take advantage of a target of opportunity if he dropped his guard for a second was nil. SNCC didn’t understand it until it was too late, because the polarization caused by the Trotsky Insurgency Process was shaking out the radicals most likely to take violent action from the Ghandi side of the movement was fore-ordained. It’s what a Trotsky Insurgency Process was designed to do. By the time King was killed, the black radicals at the store-front level, people like Marion Barry, for one, stood in contrast to progressive populists like Walter Washington and, like Putney Swope, tossed a hook shot with a Molotov Cocktail into black neigborhood capitalism.

Two things that pulled the plug on violent revolution in 1968 was the election, generally, and the end of the draft with the election of Nixon. Remember, Woodstock happened the summer of Apollo 11 during Nixon’s first year of his first term. The end of the draft ended the white anti-war movement, which flared, briefly, after Kent State, and the Weather Underground splintered into the boutique terrorism of the 70s, initiated in particular by Munich, and, in DC, SNCC, Walter Washington and Katherine Graham combined to create CORE and DC became the most racially mellow city in America (excepting The Big Easy) and Marion Barry became Mayor for Life.

As for the Trotsky Insurgency Process, Newt Gingrich adopted it as his political strategy for becoming Speaker of the House and all the talk of violent revolution coming out of the body politic originates with the Joe McCarthy Conservatives and Libertarian Hypocrites like Moscow Mitch, Rand Paul and Tom Massie.

You know how Joe McCarthy Conservatives like Rick Wilson and Tucker Carlson characterize the GOP as the “Party of Ideas”? Newt Gingrich rose to prominence spouting “Ideas are important”?

Well, ideas are important, but ideas are a dime a dozen and they need to be examined and tested for their political utility before they are passed into legislation. For example, the “Idea” of Universal Temperance is attractive in the abstract, a sort of Stoic self-denial as the human condition, but the 18th Amendment is based on the fallacy that you can legislate, successfully, against human nature. Marxism is based on the same fallacy. And the “idea” of Universal Temperance was just another good idea not worth a bucket of spit.

So, here’s an idea that you will hear from Newt Gingrich, Steve Bannon and House Freedom Caucus members like Jim Johnson and Mark Meadows, pre-Action COS to POTUS, is the axiom “Politics is a continuation of warfare”.

This is an inversion of Clausewitz’s axiom for republican military function that Warfare is the continuation of political intercourse by the intermixing of means. This is the basis of the civilian leadership embedded in the US Constitution that defines the means for the common defense. The 2nd Amendment is an element of this function.

“Politics is the continuation of Warfare” is the core technology of the Trotsky Insurgency Process leading to violent revolution. The Trotsky Insurgency Process employs social alienation, political polarization, constitutional sabotage, intimidation, disinformation and deliberate conflict to destablized the native socialism of a host society leading to violent revolution. Gingrich brought the Politics of Personal Destruction and the Criminalization of Politics into the public debate when he was elected to Congress and rode it all the way to the Speaker’s Gavel. He’s been preaching violent revolution since the ’70s and his political strategy is the organizing principle of the Joe McCarthy Conservatives who voted to acquit Donald John Trump* of the treason he committed to get elected, which was everybody but Mitt Romney.

And you can see how the Trotsky Insurgency Process polarized the black civil rights movement from the MLK passive resistance movement into the SNCC and SCLC factions and, from there, to the Black Power establishment Nixon exploited with Affirmative Action, a virtual Counter-Insurgency Process.

In contrast, the implementation of Newt Gingrich’s “Politics is the continuation of Warfare” strategy has led to the point where America is now the leading coronavirus incidence in the world.

In a serous enterprise like the civil rights movement, internal tensions are actually necessary for a healthy dynamic, but they need to be mediated by the generosity of spirit the Trotsky Insurgency Process is designed to punish and stifle. That’s what happened between SNCC and SCLC and that’s what “Poltics is the continuation of warfare” as an unexamined idea creates.

Newt Gingrich is counting on your willingness to leave his idea that “Politics is the continuation of warfare” unexamined.

[thejakobeliason-blog]

Tumblr world, welcome to my first post.

I blogged on my website yesterday about my excitement of seeing Dwyane Wade play his final game in Memphis last night. Turns out, he was "generally sore", and the team announced his "Out" status about 45 minutes before I left for the game.

So I didn't get to see him play. Sigh.

I do have a good story, though. My buddy and I rode to the game together (the wife was at her company Christmas party that I skipped in anticipation of watching D-Wade play). We were a tad late, but as we walked past the hotel nearest the FedEx Forum, two charter buses pulled up. I thought I recognized the person in the front seat, so we stopped.

Turns out, the Houston Rockets had just arrived in Memphis for their game the next day (which is today, when I'm writing this).

I whipped out my phone and started videoing as they piled off the bus. NeNe Hilario, Michael Carter Williams and a few others strolled into the hotel before I realized that I looked like a total fan girl.

Here's that video:

I tend to believe that I'd be friends with NBA guys WAAAAY before I'd be a good journalist. I've hooped too much to feel comfortable prodding them with questions and being the weird dude with a camera.

Anyway, I still snuck a very low quality picture of James Harden, the most recent NBA MVP.

I sent my friend this picture, and he responded: “did he throw his head back and fall down?”

The perfect flop joke.

The perfect first tumblr post.