Free Republic

Richard Nixon’s presidency is a study in contrasts. He achieved significant foreign policy successes and domestic environmental and social progress, yet Watergate ultimately tarnished his legacy, overshadowing all that came before it. The thirty-seventh American commander-in-chief is remembered as both a consequential president and one who brought down his own administration and legacy. The year 1968 would go down in history as one of chaos and violence. With the disastrous Tet Offensive in Vietnam, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, civil rights unrest, political polarization, and violence at the Democratic Convention stemming from President Lyndon...

Amtrak, the national passenger railroad company of the U.S., continues to have routine breakdowns despite receiving massive injections of taxpayer dollars from the Biden administration, according to data from the Department of Transportation (DOT). Since 2021, there have been 333 Amtrak train incidents reported nationwide as of July 9, 2024, slightly less than the 397 incidents that occurred between 2016 and July 2020 during former President Trump’s tenure, according to the DOT. The Biden administration, as a part of an announced $66 billion for passenger rail in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, has dedicated huge amounts of taxpayer cash to Amtrak,...

On July 6, due to an ongoing electric power issue, Amtrak canceled service between Boston and New York City for the remainder of the day. Amtrak is communicating directly with impacted customers about this service interruption and offering options for rebooking their travel plans. Amtrak apologizes for any inconvenience caused by the disruption. Our crews are working hard to correct the issues.

Here is our Amtrak dining car all meals reviewed. We have been on many of the Amtrak trains in our travels, the Sunset Limited, Empire Builder, Coast Starlight and California Zephyr. We have been in coach and in a sleeper car. We have eaten our meals in the Amtrak dining car and also in the Observation Car. We'll be sharing our Amtrak food review with you in this video. We tried every meal they offer and share what we think with you.

Today, April 22, 2024, marks the 30th anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s passing. The 37th President died in New York City in 1994 after suffering a stroke and was buried five days later on the grounds of the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda at the side of his First Lady. The Nixon Foundation commemorated the anniversary with members of the United States Army lowering the flag to half staff over his birth house, the playing of Taps and a ceremonial wreath laying. A commemorative display is currently available for visitors to view in Annenberg Court featuring items from President Nixon’s...

Joe Biden botched his big announcement about rail investment on Friday, declaring that the federal government would spend 'over a billion, three hundred million, trillion, three hundred million dollars'. The president was in Las Vegas, unveiling $8.2 billion in new federal funding for 10 major passenger rail projects across the country. Among them is a new line from the Nevada city to Los Angeles, which when completed - potentially as soon as 2028 - can carry over 11 million passengers a year, powered entirely by renewable energy. Biden mocked his predecessor for repeatedly promising Infrastructure Week, but failing to deliver....

President Joe Biden announced Monday the federal government will pump more than $16 billion into improving the nation’s busiest rail line. At an event in Delaware on Monday, Biden said the funding will go into more than two dozen projects along the Northeast Corridor – the Amtrak system that connects cities including Washington, New York and Boston. Biden hailed the new investments, saying he knew the agony of waiting on a stopped train while trying to get home. “I know how much it matters,” he said, describing an aging system in dire need of upgrades and repairs. His words held...

Amtrak has replaced a diesel-powered bus on the Pacific Northwest’s Cascades route with its first electric bus. Amtrak, which partnered with the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to roll out its new electric bus, will run it between Seattle and Bellingham, filling the gap between the morning and evening trains on the Cascades route. It uses buses all over the US to run thruway connecting services, which are scheduled to connect with Amtrak trains. Amtrak’s first electric bus is a 45-foot Van Hool CX45e. It has a 660 kWh Proterra lithium-ion battery system and 260 miles of range. It’s owned...

PICKENS COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – An Upstate officer was killed in the line of duty Wednesday morning in Easley. According to the Easley Police Department, officers received a call for service around 5 a.m. to assist with a call regarding a mental health crisis near the railroad tracks on East Main Street. Two officers found the person around 6 a.m. on the train tracks and were attempting to get them off the tracks when an officer was hit by an Amtrak train. Easley Police identified the officer as 22-year-old Matthew Hare. “Officer Hare died saving the life of someone he...

An Amtrak train carrying 190 passengers derailed Wednesday after striking a truck on tracks in Southern California, and only minor injuries were reported, authorities said. Three of the train’s seven cars went off the tracks following the collision in Moorpark, said Ventura County Fire Department Captain Brian McGrath. Advertisement The number of people hurt wasn’t immediately known, but all the injuries were characterized as minor, McGrath said. Parts of the demolished truck were still on the tracks, while other sections lay near the derailed train cars. The truck’s driver had only minor injuries and it appears he got out before...

Compared to Hunter Biden’s admitted alcohol and hard drug abuse — and, according to Republicans, his influence-peddling crime spree — a federal railroad patronage appointment seems mild and milquetoast. But 17 years later, it takes on a darker tinge considering the troubles President Joe Biden’s often-wayward son would embroil himself in. Hunter Biden was a member of the Amtrak Board of Directors from July 2006 until January 2009, resigning when his father became vice president under President Barack Obama. Technically nominated by President George W. Bush as part of a broader deal with Democrats over Senate appointments, Hunter Biden’s Capitol...

Passengers on an Amtrak train were stranded in South Carolina after their train took a detour due to another train derailing. Some passengers fresh out of patience appeared to have started calling the police, per ABC News. A train conductor was heard telling passengers they weren't being held hostage, per videos seen by ABC News. An Amtrak trip from Virginia to Orlando turned into a nightmare this week after passengers were kept on board the train for more than 29 hours. ABC News reported that the Auto Train in question left Virginia at 5 p.m. on Monday, and was meant...

President Joe Biden pledged to build a high-speed railway between Scranton, Pennsylvania, and New York City on Wednesday. The president made his bold (and likely unrealistic) pronouncement during his post-midterm election press conference on Wednesday when recalling how a congressman in the state of Pennsylvania asked if his infrastructure plan would include a high-speed rail between the two cities. “We can. First of all, it will make it a lot easier to take a lot of vehicles off the road, and we have more money in the pot now already out there that we voted for than the entire money...

Amtrak will cancel all long-distance trains beginning on Thursday to avoid disruptions in advance of a potential rail worker strike later this week. An Amtrak spokesperson said the changes will ensure trains can reach their destinations before the strike, which could begin as early as Friday, and the adjustments could soon extend to other routes. Amtrak is not involved in the contract negotiations between rail workers and freight companies, but many of its trains run on railroads owned by third parties that would shut down if a strike takes place.

Massachusetts voters will now be getting a chance to decide if those illegally living in Massachusetts should be given licenses. A group of citizens has gotten 50,617 signatures verified, over the 40,000 required to put the law on the ballot in November. The bill, the “Work and Family Mobility Act,” was initially vetoed by Governor Charlie Baker — but Democrats overrode his veto. The Epoch Times reported: A group of citizens opposed to a new state law that puts driver’s licenses in the hands of people living illegally in Massachusetts has collected enough signatures to potentially overturn the measure. Jim...

WASHINGTON, DC- We’ve often heard old “lunch bucket Joe” wax poetic about the millions of miles he’s traveled on Amtrak…you know, a regular man of the people. Now, according to Town Hall, old Joe may be sharing his train car with an illegal alien or two. The outlet reports that the Biden administration is poised to use the beleaguered rail system to transport illegal aliens from areas near the U.S-Mexico border. Nineteen House Republicans claim the Department of Homeland Security has hatched a scheme to use taxpayer money to ship illegals from the border to the interior United States. The...

Rumor has it the Biden administration is on the verge of using Amtrak to transport illegal migrants from parts of the U.S. Mexican border. According to 19 House Republicans, President Joe Biden's Department of Homeland Security is planning on using hard-earned taxpayer money to fund the transportation of illegal aliens from the border to cross into the country. The House Transportation Committee blames Biden's urgent need to end Title 42 for the massive spike of illegals crossing the border, inciting GOP members to heighten the need to expose the president's plans. In a letter to Amtrak officials, Republicans cautioned that...

Missouri officials have declared a 'large fatality event' after a passenger train traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago hit a dump truck that was blocking a public crossing and completely derailed on Monday. Three people are dead -- including two on the train and one in the dump truck -- after the train's eight cars and its two locomotives came off the tracks, officials with the Missouri State Highway Patrol said. At least 50 people were injured, the Chariton County Ambulance Service said. At least nine patients were being taken to a University of Missouri Health Care hospital in Columbia,...

Multiple people are feared to have been killed after an Amtrak train carrying 243 people derailed close to Kansas City in Missouri. It's still unclear what caused the smash - but one imaged shared by a survivor showed what appeared to be a broken truck axle lying to one side of the tracks.

President Biden on Friday told a story involving an Amtrak conductor who supposedly grabbed his cheeks and shouted “Joey, baby!” — despite facts contradicting the tale, which Biden has told on at least six prior occasions as president. The amusing anecdote — in which Biden apes former Amtrak conductor Angelo Negri’s Italian-American accent — was declared “False” last year by CNN “Facts First” journalist Daniel Dale.