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Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

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Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#591
post #579

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://itd.idaho.gov/poe-locations/

I think those are weigh stations, not ports in the usual sense of the word.

Ports of entry are surprisingly important regulatory entities at the state level, and DC doesn't have any. Don't deflect from your ignorance.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#592

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Indeed, there's nothing wrong with induced demand on its own. In any other market, more demand induced by lower costs (whether those costs be monetary or in the form of commute times) would almost certainly be a good thing. The "purpose" of expanding lanes and building alterntae highways is to improve efficiency. For people living in a given area, reduce their time spent commuting. There is large economic cost to h…

> The problem with induced demand is that yes you increase capacity and more people then move clogging up the roads until a similar equilibrum is reached as before. That's still an improvement over the previous status quo. Commute times are not the only, or even necessarily the most important factor in a transportation system. Your new equilibrium transports a larger number of people than the previous equilibrium. In…

Yes, but that's conveniently ignoring all of the negative externalities produced by it.

So adding roads gets half the benefits (as it doesn't gain any efficiency benefits), and comes with a ton of externalities when compared to mass transit.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#593
post #583

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be the only state with no agricultural interests, the only state with no ports, the only state where the majority of the residents work for the federal government... The last one alone is pretty scary and a bit of a conflict of interest.

North Dakota? Montana? Arizona? Lots of landlocked states.

These states all have ports of entry.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#594

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was an article[1] posted here a while back which changed my perspective on this issue. Indeed, there's nothing wrong with induced demand on its own. In any other market, more demand induced by lower costs (whether those costs be monetary or in the form of commute times) would almost certainly be a good thing . The only reason it's a potential issue for roads is that road use is an externality. Building and main…

> Indeed, there's nothing wrong with induced demand on its own. In any other market, more demand induced by lower costs (whether those costs be monetary or in the form of commute times) would almost certainly be a good thing. The "purpose" of expanding lanes and building alterntae highways is to improve efficiency. For people living in a given area, reduce their time spent commuting. There is large economic cost to h…

Or by reducing/rescheduling travel demand by work-from-home, flexible hour hours, and/or devolution of Fed agency HQs to less crowded/costly US regions where their responsibilities better match the activities/needs. Say, moving Fisheries to where they fish, Bureau of Mines to where they mine, DoE to where either energy production or demand is greatest, etc. and keep a skeleton crew of critical Fed functions like White House, Congress, Supreme Court and the Pentagon in The DC area. Perhaps a movable feast with Agencies moving every 25 years to get a fuller outside-the-Beltway American perspective. Like, say, using IT to make that happen…

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#595
post #479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An in-tank pump is typically cooled by being immersed in the liquid gasoline. When the gas level drops too low the pump gets less cooling.

So you've knocked a couple operating hours off the life of something that tens of thousands of operating hours? Big deal. It'll be fine unless you run it dry for a long period but you won't be doing that because cars don't run the pump when the engine isn't running.

I have replaced fuel pumps. This involves a lot of work and often a specialty wrench. You will usually need to drop the fuel tank, which requires at a minimum raising the vehicle over 18" into air. The standard 14" jack/stands solution most motorists own is insufficient. They need to be replaced mostly because their integrated fuel filter gets clogged by the sediment accumulated at bottom of the tank, which causes the motor to fail. When the tank has plenty of fuel, the gunk at the bottom of the tank is less likely to be ingested by the system.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#596
post #579

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think those are weigh stations, not ports in the usual sense of the word.

Ports of entry are surprisingly important regulatory entities at the state level, and DC doesn't have any. Don't deflect from your ignorance.

Here is a list of usual definitions of the ordinary word port: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/port . If you mean some term of art which is opposed to the usual everyday meaning of the word, it's your responsibility to be explicit. Don't deflect from your poor communication.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#597

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Senate is entirely vestigial and needs to be dissolved or other wise made to be proportional to population, if we are going to keep an upper house at all. The House needs to be rid of single member districts, ideally, and move to a multimember party system. Barring that, first-past-the-post should be completely replaced as a voting mechanism. The Supreme Court should be reformed with term limits of some kind, and…

The point of the Senate and Electoral College is that states are supposed to have quite a bit of sovereignty, and so more populous states shouldn't be able to run roughshod over less populous ones. Your suggestions completely miss that point.

Everyone knows the reason for the system. There are 50 states now. Hard to form a coalition of states which will be able to run roughshod over other states, but what we do have is a very unfair system where a minority of the country can block the will of the majority.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#598

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Senate is entirely vestigial and needs to be dissolved or other wise made to be proportional to population, if we are going to keep an upper house at all. The House needs to be rid of single member districts, ideally, and move to a multimember party system. Barring that, first-past-the-post should be completely replaced as a voting mechanism. The Supreme Court should be reformed with term limits of some kind, and…

The point of the Senate and Electoral College is that states are supposed to have quite a bit of sovereignty, and so more populous states shouldn't be able to run roughshod over less populous ones. Your suggestions completely miss that point.

No, I didn't miss the point. I disagree with it entirely. The EC and the Senate function nothing like they were designed in the 18th century when the goal you mention seemed to matter. The filibuster and the 17th amendment and two centuries of societal advancement have something to say about the "state sovereignty" argument for the Senate.

The fact that the Electoral college allowed the previous President to take office is is an example of its failings from its supposed original intention, as is the fact that most citizens of any party or educational background expect that the President should be democratically elected.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#599
post #574

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the residents of Arlington want to form their own state and secede from Virginia, I'll support them. As it stands, they already have representation in Congress. > Moreover, anacostia residents probably have more in common with residents of pg county than residents of palisades, who have more in common with bethesda residents than anacostia residents. Sure, and residents of Manhattan probably have more in common wi…

My point is: There's no shared identity among DC residents, the most of whom don't even really live there all that long, due to political cycles/fluid flight to the suburbs of MD and VA. Your statement is pure nonsense. The most sensible solution is to give DC back to Maryland (which is where it came from) and thereby give the residents representation, which is your end goal. If you want some other end goal, it has t…

> There's no shared identity among DC residents

Uhh, yeah there is, if you move beyond happy hour with the other transplants whose dads got them internships in their representative's office and talk to people who actually grew up there.

And who cares how long people live there? If I move to VA for 2 years I still get to vote for a representative if there's an election while I'm there. Why should we have a void area in the country where like "ah ah aha, gotcha! you stepped in the your-vote-doesn't-count zone, so your vote doesn't count! Too bad!" This is the government that impacts our lives not some children's board game.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#600
post #574

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the residents of Arlington want to form their own state and secede from Virginia, I'll support them. As it stands, they already have representation in Congress. > Moreover, anacostia residents probably have more in common with residents of pg county than residents of palisades, who have more in common with bethesda residents than anacostia residents. Sure, and residents of Manhattan probably have more in common wi…

My point is: There's no shared identity among DC residents, the most of whom don't even really live there all that long, due to political cycles/fluid flight to the suburbs of MD and VA. Your statement is pure nonsense. The most sensible solution is to give DC back to Maryland (which is where it came from) and thereby give the residents representation, which is your end goal. If you want some other end goal, it has t…

I have friends from DC who do feel strong connection to it. It might be the way people think of NYC — i.e. from a city/metropolis rather than a state.

But they damn sure don’t think they’re from Maryland.

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