Trump's Card

[Lang Spoon]

Mueller is about to be fired, I guess is the reasoning.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Would it not be worth waiting for that?

[Lang Spoon]

Lower standard of proof in civil courts, if it’s a civil matter they are bringing forward (too obsessed with the commuter train networks of the OECD to check).

[ursus arctos]

No Fifth Amendment privilege in civil cases, either.

The DNC sued over the Watergate break in as well, and ultimately settled for USD 750,000, which was worth a lot more in the early 70s.

This will never go to trial (the Russians will get the claims against them dismissed on grounds of sovereign immunity), but it is another way to compel testimony from the likes of a Kushner and Stone and to keep the Wikileaks angle in the public eye.

It isn’t four-dimensional chess, but it is a low cost, low risk way of opening a new avenue of inquiry that could produce headlines that would be useful in the midterms.

[anton pulisov]

That sounds bizarre. Malmo and Gothenberg are big places, so need a big fast train to Copenhagen. I can't see any point in that train going on somewhere the size of Helsingor. It's like a West Coast Mainline train from Birmingham going through London to Crawley on the other side. Better for the trains from each direction to terminate somewhere near Copenhagen and go back whence they came, isn't it?

Ah, but they have another, even faster, train for that job: the tilting Swedish X2000. That one only stops at Gothenburg, Lund, Malmö, Copenhagen airport and Copenhagen.

[Femme Folle]

Anyway, what's this Democrat law suit? I don't get the point of it. Isn't Mueller good enough?

"Democratic" please--"Democrat" the way you're using it here is a right-wing slur.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Where does the metro under the Capitol building go?

How long since you last played Fallout 3?

[Lang Spoon]

My tolerance for gaming post N64 runs to about Pro Evo, Red Dead and Elite Dangerous.

Almost a Centrist Dad flush no doubt. Fallout would be another high value card. Bioshock trumps evertything.

[ursus arctos]

The Stable Genius weighs in on the DNC's suit.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/987470932989050881

[Tubby Isaacs]

Ah, but they have another, even faster, train for that job: the tilting Swedish X2000. That one only stops at Gothenburg, Lund, Malmö, Copenhagen airport and Copenhagen.

That sounds excellent. So much so I can't see much point in the other train.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The Stable Genius weighs in on the DNC's suit.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/987470932989050881

Quite right. All these Clinton partisans like Jeff Sessions keep getting in the way.

[Tubby Isaacs]

"Democratic" please--"Democrat" the way you're using it here is a right-wing slur.

I didn't know that.

Democratic.

[Tubby Isaacs]

On rolls the Missouri GOP clown car. Governor charged with a computer misuse felony.

Is the plan to make Claire McCaskill die of laughter?

[Femme Folle]

I didn't know that.

Democratic.

Now that you know, keep it in mind when you read trump's tweets.

Here's an example--"Death Rattle of Democrat Party" should be "Democratic Party":

https://twitter.com/AwakeToday/status/987486610181804032

(how do I make tweets show up on here?)

[Lang Spoon]

That sounds excellent. So much so I can't see much point in the other train.

Just when I thought I was out... the ferry across to Sweden at Helsingor is one of the busiest routes in the world. So a rail connection from there to the airport serves far more than the immediate urban area, would be highly used by Swedes as well.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Ah, that makes far more sense.

[Gerontophile]

I watched an interview with Ms Daniels' lawyer last night with Bill Maher, and he seemed like a bit of an up himself windbag.

[Femme Folle]

He is, but who else would you want going up against trump?

[anton pulisov]

I watched an interview with Ms Daniels' lawyer last night with Bill Maher, and he seemed like a bit of an up himself windbag.

He's an up himself windbag indeed, that Maher.

[anton pulisov]

That sounds excellent. So much so I can't see much point in the other train.

The X2000 is a TGV style service with dynamic pricing, reserved seats, no standing allowed, etc.

The other train runs more often and stops at more places and you can get on it without booking in advance. Tickets are always the same price. Possible to stand when seats are full, etc.

Each service has its own use. Both are very popular.

[Tubby Isaacs]

That's interesting that you get both types of service. Sounds like a lot of duplication though, people turning up and unable to get on a train that's just leaving.

[ursus arctos]

Amtrak had an X2000 trainset operating on a test basis in the early 90s, before they decided that their “high speed”offering would be the Acela. It spent most of its time on the Northeast Corridor between New Haven and Washington, but also toured the rest of the country. They did something similar with a German ICE I.

[Flynnie]

The conversation's moved on, but just to tie a bow on Irish train chat for Berba: West Cork, Armagh, and Donegal. And Limerick, which is very reachable by train. Meaning I've Redknapped the word literally, and I am now filled with shame.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

The conversation's moved on, but just to tie a bow on Irish train chat for Berba: West Cork, Armagh, and Donegal. And Limerick, which is very reachable by train. Meaning I've Redknapped the word literally, and I am now filled with shame.

heh, well the west cork railway closed in 1961, which was a bit of a pity because it's probably our most spectacular ex railway line, with all sorts of sexy viaducts etc. The Armagh branch off the dublin belfast line closed in 1955, and god alone knows when donegal lost its railway.

It's important though to remember that these lines that were closed were on their knees from about 1900 on. This song from 1902, basically covers a lot of it. This singer is the grandfather or Bristol city and Ireland winger callum o'Dowda.

[ursus arctos]

Irish Times piece on railways in Donegal

Ms. ursus did a writing residency in Bundoran a while back. It still has what once was a rather grand railway hotel, but the line suffered from the usual travails of transport across the border.

The opening of the Enniskillen and Bundoran Railway (E&BR) in 1868 connected Bundoran railway station with Ireland's growing railway network and made the town more accessible from Belfast, Dublin and other population centres on the east and north-east coasts of Ireland. The Great Northern Railway (GNR) operated the E&BR line from 1876 and absorbed the company in 1896.

In this period Bundoran emerged as one of Ireland's most popular seaside resorts. By the end of the 19th century it had become one of the main seaside resorts in Ulster. Hotels and lodging houses were opened around the town and the GNR built the Great Northern Hotel, one of Bundoran's best-known landmarks.

During The Emergency of 1939–45 the GNR introduced the Bundoran Express that linked Dublin and Bundoran via Dundalk and Enniskillen. It also carried pilgrims to and from Pettigo, which was the nearest station for Lough Derg in County Donegal. There were also through trains between Bundoran and Belfast.

The partition of Ireland in 1922 turned the boundary with County Fermanagh into an international frontier. Henceforth Bundoran's only railway link with the rest of the Irish Free State was via Northern Ireland, and as such was subject to delays for customs inspections. The Government of Northern Ireland closed much of the GNR network on its side of the border in 1957, including the E&BR as far as the border. This gave the Republic no practical alternative but to allow the closure of the line between the border and Bundoran. Thereafter the nearest railheads for Bundoran were Sligo in the Republic and Omagh in Northern Ireland, until in 1965 the Ulster Transport Authority closed the line through Omagh as well.

Today, the closest railway stations to Bundoran are Sligo Mac Diarmada Station in Sligo Town and Waterside Station in Derry.

FWIW, the former Yugoslav railways have experienced a somewhat similar decline following the introduction of a number of rather hostile borders in what was once a unified territory.