It used to be even better - before the 1960s we had a rail service that even connected tiny villages to each other, and you could pretty much get from any inhabited area to any other by train. Unfortunately we had our own version of the streetcar scandal that saw big auto lobbying local government to uproot their…

DC - NYC is the only train route in the US that is the better alternative to air travel.  Yes, the travel time is longer than flight time, but there is no need to travel to and from the airports.  Union Station is a few blocks from the Capitol building and is connected to the DC Metro.  When you arrive at Penn Station…

Detroiter here, who just went to the original Ben’s location on a recent trip to DC. As proud as I am of the Detroit coney dog, I have to say the half-smoke is a worthy contender for the title of top dog. That smoke flavor really takes it over the top.

I love them, personally—that combination of flavors is just mystical—but they are a mess and I do understand. At home, I often make myself a sorta-Chicago dog, which is usually a Hebrew National on a regular bun, with deli-style sweet relish, mustard, onion, a little chopped tomato OR a little sliced hot pepper, and…

The Amtrak dining car died because it costs more to go 200 miles on Amtrak than it does to go 3,000 miles on a plane.

As a Gen Xer, I resemble this remark

At this point, the “it might hurt our chances in 2020" calculus needs to be thrown out the window. I admit up front that I was one of those pooh-poohing impeachment proceedings prior to the release of the Mueller report, because the imbalance between the House and Senate meant such proceedings would be dead the second…

Trump and Team: “We’re going to use foreign influence to fuck with our elections again, and ensure that we have blackmail material on our opponent. You know, like we did last time - which arguably gave us the election.”

Holy fuck, this shit might result in a stern letter!

“If you don’t comply, we’ll put on really frowny faces next time we say the same thing.”

If you’ve payed attention to her entire career as speaker/minority leader, you’d know the answer is the latter. 

The alternative is simply that she’s a craven, spineless weasel entirely unworthy of her position.*operating at the behest of corporate forces that would strongly appreciate her not upsetting a predictable system that rewards all of them handsomely.

At this point, I genuinely wonder if Trump has dirt on Pelosi, or if there are skeletons in her closet that are so heinous that she’s terrified of them coming to light if she were to push too hard against Trump. The alternative is simply that she’s a craven, spineless weasel entirely unworthy of her position.

Their answer to this was a little “reserved” sign on the coffee table, which is almost worse than just not addressing it, because that would NEVERRRRR work. One of those just-suspend-disbelief things. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

While Ross was a terrible character, David Schwimmer was a deeply underrated physical comedian upon re-watch.

The principal problem with the institutional Democratic Party as it exists today is that confuses the axiom “never fight a battle you don’t have to win” with “never fight a battle you can’t win”. Those two axioms aren’t the same, and the Democratic confusion on the issue results not just in innocent bystanders…

Fully prepared to get banned here.
I’m Indigenous, not part Black. I struggle with land reparations because conceptually speaking, it should not be viewed as the US’s land to give in the first place. I read a lot (or used to, before grad school) and I understand that this country was built by either slave labor…

My family moved from Ukraine to the US in 1996 when I was two, so I grew up eating a mix of Russian, Ukrainian and Jewish food. About 3 years into college, I realized the biggest hankering I had was smoked fish. Now, I’m lucky enough to go home twice a month and I’m always greeted with an assortment of smoked herring,…

After briefly watching Downton Abbey I recall commenting that the show was about vintage clothes being inhabited by actors.