October 1, 2016

"She told me, 'Don’t worry, everything is fine'... She said where they lived, on the other side of the river, was very safe."

She = Fabiola Bittar de Kroon, the one person killed in the Hoboken commuter train disaster.

She was commenting after the recent bombing in Chelsea.

ADDED: We're hearing so little about the cause of the crash. Here's an article in yesterday's NYT about how federal investigators have not even looked at "most of" the train or interviewed the train's engineer.
Jim Southworth, an investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, said... "Because of the asbestos, because of the unsettled structures that we’re not sure about, I’m not allowing anybody to go in there... None of the evidence in there is perishable, so I have the time to go in there."
None of the evidence in there is perishable, but what about the evidence that's not in there? Have officials excluded terrorism?

18 comments:

rhhardin said...

As Tim Blair said of jungle king Cecil the lion and the Minnesota dentist, who could have seen that coming.

tim in vermont said...

So is this "ironic" like the song?

Paco Wové said...

I hate ironic news stories, even more than tearjerker news stories or feelgood news stories.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

That's some serious exploitation and disrespect going on over there.

I clicked away as soon as it became clear.

And I'm sorry I clicked at all.

Ann Althouse said...

@Eric

Over where? What are you talking about?

Johanna Lapp said...

It's not unlikely that the Chelsea bomber took the PATH train through Hoboken to the 23rd Street station and his Manhattan targets. Much less security and scrutiny than the NJ Transit trains through Penn Station at 33rd Streets, My first thought on Friday.

Martha said...

That is what my 28 year old son who lives in NYC tells me when I tell him to be careful and safe.

On Saturday night September 17 he was in a Chelsea movie theater when the terrorist bomb exploded and the moviegoers were hurriedly evacuated when the theater filled with smoke. That close to a bomb.

No one is very safe.

Humperdink said...

“She said where they lived, on the other side of the river, was very safe.”

Unless you are hit by a meteor, struck by lightning or run over by beer truck. We just don't know the time of our departure.

Bob Boyd said...

"On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below."

RNB said...

Yes, let's criticize those NTSB investigators for not coming to conclusions yet. After all, what do they know about investigating crashes? And they were so mean to that nice Capt. Sullenberger, I saw it in the movie.

Wince said...

What, Me Worry?

And now, a hipster public service announcement from your Dept. of Homeland Security.

"Don't Worry, Everything is fine."

Try not to get worried
Try not to turn on to
Problems that upset you
(oh) Don't you know

Everything's alright
Yes everything's fine
And we want you to sleep well tonight
Let the world turn without you tonight

If we try
We'll get by
So forget all about us tonight

Everything's all right
Yes everything's all right yes

Sleep and I shall soothe you
Calm you and anoint you
Myrrh for your hot forehead
(oh) Then you'll feel
Everything's all right

Yes everything's fine
And it's cool and the ointment's sweet
For the fire in your head and feet
Close your eyes

Close your eyes
And relax
Think of nothing tonight

Virgil Hilts said...

Until they've a reasonable explanation for what caused crash, it's silly to rule out malfeasance (doesn't have to be terrorism - just someone who likes to see things burn) - https://reposti.com/p/MU
We hope accidents like this cannot happen w/o something extraordinarily unusual going wrong, and surprised that it has taken this long for even a cursory explanation. On other hand, if it was terrorism then why has no org taken responsibility, left a facebook post, etc. I am betting not terrorism but not willing to rule out sabotage.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Althouse seems oddly desperate to make more of this than there is.

"the one person killed in the Hoboken commuter train disaster."
"Have officials excluded terrorism?"

Defining 'disaster' down, more people die in a typical car crash on the LIE than died in this crash. And Althouse tries to drum up the terrorism angle. For what purpose? Does she feel something is slipping away?

ark said...

My understanding is that the NTSB has recovered the train's data recorder and have also interviewed the engineer who was at the controls at the time. Those two pieces of information should give a pretty clear picture of exactly what happened. Meanwhile, I've seen comparisons of this crash with one that happened in Washington DC's Union Station in 1953, which came about due to brake failure.

I'm going to hazard a guess that if the crash was the result of a deliberate action, that action would have been to sabotage the train while it was stationary, hence nowhere near Hoboken.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

"And Althouse tries to drum up the terrorism angle. For what purpose? Does she feel something is slipping away?"

Perhaps she "drummed it up" because just a few weeks ago three pipe bombs were found in a NJ train station? Just a guess.

It doesn't look to be terrorism, but surmising that it might be is not utterly outlandish in this day and age.

rcocean said...

If its terrorism - we'll hear about it AFTER the election.

David said...

"Have officials excluded terrorism?"

At least some of them did that almost immediately after the event. The rest will be brought around soon enough.

mikee said...

So, no test of the train operator for drugs or alcohol? The last big train/station collision I recall was because of a drunk/high operator.

Not assigning blame, just suggesting that the Union must have some pretty good contract authority if no testing was done immediately.