Author: Staff

  • B&O Railroad Museum

    History of the Museum from B&O Museum website, “In the late 19th century, an overzealous publicity agent developed a trade show exhibit for a major American railroad headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. This exhibit survived the railroad that sponsored it and grew to become a “national treasure” of railroad artifacts. Today, it comprises the collection of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum, the oldest, most comprehensive American railroad collection in the world.

    Located among Baltimore City’s historic southwest neighborhoods, at the original site of the historic Mt. Clare Shops, the B&O Railroad Museum is recognized universally as the birthplace of American railroading. It was here within the Museum’s 40-acre campus that Baltimore businessmen, surveyors, and engineers set about building the B&O Railroad in 1829, laying the first commercial long-distance track, building the first passenger station, and inventing America’s unique railroad. Railroad work has been conducted at Mt. Clare for over 130 years. And it continues today. A National Historic Landmark, Affiliate of the Smithsonian Museum, and independent educational resource, the B&O Railroad Museum collects, preserves and interprets artifacts related to early American railroading, particularly the Baltimore & Ohio, Chesapeake & Ohio, Western Maryland, and other mid-Atlantic railroads to the delight of over 200,000 visitors a year. Nearly 200 pieces of locomotives and rolling stock provide a continuum of railroad technology history from 1830 through the present day, and hundreds of thousands of small artifacts provide a unique glimpse of railroading through tools, exquisite time-pieces, fine art, presentation silver, uniforms, furniture, and personal memorabilia. Additionally, an extensive collection of scale models and toy trains illustrate America’s long fascination with trains and railroading. And the grounds of the Museum encompass significant historic structures, many of which are restored as well as bridges, earthworks, and archaeological resources.”[1]

    References:

    1. Website


  • Trump Quotes London Mayor Out of Context

    Another case where Trump takes text out of context and twists words to create lie

    Comedian George Takei said: ‘He said there was no reason to be alarmed by the increased police presence over the next few days, you hare-brained miscreant. Sit down.'[1]

    Other celebrities were not as kind.

    The Daily Mail, “British and American celebrities are expressing their outrage at President Donald Trump’s criticism of London Mayor Sadiq Khan on Twitter just hours after a terror attack in the city left seven dead and 48 injured Saturday night.
    The President tweeted to criticize Khan for telling residents of London that there is ‘no reason to be alarmed’ after three terrorists ran over a crowd of people and stabbed several others before being shot dead.

    But he seemed to miss that Khan was referring to an increased police presence in the British capital when he said there was ‘no reason to be alarmed’.

    The Mayor had earlier condemned the attacks as ‘barbaric’ and ‘cowardly’.[1]

    References:

    1. The Daily Mail
    2. Image of Tweet (JPG)

     

  • Stupid Is As Stupid Does by Art Fettig

    Stupid
    Photo from Pixabay

    Did you ever do anything really stupid?  Things that cost you dearly?  Maybe you lost a friend or a lover or a job or a career because of your stupidity. Maybe you got kicked out of school or were publicly humiliated. Maybe you went to jail.

    Now if you are expecting me to go on and tell you about all of the stupid things I have done you are wrong.  This isn’t about my stupidity, it is about yours.

    I can see a few pompous asses reading my newsletter and saying smugly, “I’ve never done anything stupid in my lifetime.”  Baloney! Just saying that is stupid.

    Forrest Gump, that famous philosopher said, “Stupid is as stupid does.”

    I was just wondering what kind of world this would be if we – you and I – would all say, “OK, sure, I’ve done a lot of stupid, mean and nasty things in my lifetime and I wish I hadn’t and it bothers me.

    Here are 3 of the 12 steps used in Alcoholic Anonymous:

    8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

    9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

    10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

    Ho Ho, I was just thinking, What if everybody worked on those three steps, all of us, not just those in recovery programs. What if everybody in this world, including the people in Washington and Moscow and Beijing and everywhere. What if we all set out to becoming honest, caring, fun loving friends and neighbors? Sure its crazy! Nuts! Ridiculous! Impossible!  But what good is a newsletter if it can’t stir up your blood and your mind and your heart  a little.  OK, we’ll compromise.  Just do something nice for somebody today and see how good it feels.

  • Congressional Staffers & Family – Student Loans

    Many emails circulate about members of congress, their staffers and their families do not have to pay back student loans.

    FALSE

    Some folks confuse the use of Title 2, Chapter 4, Section 60c-6 as doing such.

    The Chief Administrative Officer shall establish a program under which an employing office of the House of Representatives may agree to repay (by direct payment on behalf of the employee) any student loan previously taken out by an employee of the office. For purposes of this section, Member of the House of Representatives (including a Delegate or Resident Commissioner to the Congress) shall not be considered to be an employee of the House of Representatives.

    References:

    1. Snopes
    2. FactCheck
    3. OPM – US Office of Personal Management

     

  • Donald Trump – Climate Change is a Hoax, BUT Wants to Save Golf Course from Erosion

    Is Donald Trump “two faced”?

    The Guardian, “Trump’s other wall: is his Irish resort a sign he believes in climate change?
    Before he set sights on Mexico, Donald Trump had his eyes on a wall to protect his luxury golf resort. Does it suggest he recognizes effects of global warming?”[1]

    References:

    1. The Guardian, November 17, 2016, Caelainn Hogan – Trump’s other wall: is his Irish resort a sign he believes in climate change?