Honestly, I wish these folks could have been retained. I really do. They would without a doubt certainly more beneficial to the country than the ridiculous expenditures by USAID for cultural imperialism and sheer nonsense.

$20 million to create a Sesame Street in Iraq
$2 million for Moroccan pottery classes and promotion
$2 million promoting tourism to Lebanon
$6 million to promote tourism in Egypt (Aren't the pyramids, antiquities and the Nile River enough)

That's just 30 MILLION (just, sic) of an annual budget of $27 Billion.

We could have easily solved most of the backlog of issues at 150 S. Washington Avenue, probably procured a new construction steam blocomotive, four new construction coaches (an idea the NPS shot down) and maybe picked up and Americanized a couple Chinese SY's for utility purposes and still had a rainy-day fund, perhaps to acquire a certain NKP Mike.

The problem at Steamtown is related to people like Terry Gess (deceased), Kip Hagan (deceased), whose deal for F-units seemed like a good idea, until they became a crutch. Bruce Gibson (retired), Mark Birtel (skedaddled when the NPS brought in a site assessement team -standard practice due to Supr Hagan's death that asked questions about the lack of progress). To a lesser extent, people like former head of law enforcement and his girlfriend who made a career of harassing Mark Brennan about petty stuff like Steamy the Cat-claimed it was "quartering pets". So Mark got creative and made the cat a "Vector Control Specialist" volunteer. Birtel's first act was the evict the little mouse killer. Not sure he did anything else of consequence after that.

Debbie Conway failed or was unable to heed warnings ten years ago about the possibility of closely clustered ages in the shop and the lack of transferrable skills within other NPS units. The failure to have a visit by 113 was tragic missed opportunity, and will likely never be available again. A simple thank you letter would have done wonders.

Cherie Shepherd simply was an unmitigated disaster. I remember running into one long time friend of Steamtown at the benefit excursion for Chris Bost in 2021. He never has a bad word to say about anybody. Yet he described her as "tone deaf" and said she simply had no clue how to treat partners. I would have a hard time disputing that, as I personally know how she treated volunteers. At least she could not email myboss looking for some kind of discipline for taklng a picture, because she promised that to somebody else. First Amendment much?

As I've previously stated, the staff count used to be in the 80's. by 2010 it was 60. This past year, the Green Book requested 42.

If there is anybody to blame, it's every person who passively cast a ballot and treated the federal government as a cornucopia without cost. We allowed Congresscritters of both parties to give giant novelty checks, alienate legislative responsibilities to the unelected and tell us "my opponent fought against you, because he opposed the Every LIttle Girl Gets A Pony Act" Some simply said TELGGAPA first by pick-pocketing nickels, but now just shoving it on the not yet born and their children and grandchildren-a burden that grows ever more onerous as the birthrate plumbs ever deeper deaths.

After the grand opening, Dan Cupper wrote a Trains Article. The cover featured featured the 2317 and asked "after $80 million, is the nations museum ready to roll"?

We saw the lack of progress with restoration, then the regression. This year will mark 15 years since the 2317's last fire was dropped. We know it needs a 1472, but what else?

Look, I get it. Mourners cry the loudest at the closing of the casket. Until I see that the NPS isn't hamstringing the new Super with regulations that simply don't work in an operating museum of machinery it does not as an institution, understand..


"He's dead Jim".

-Dr. Leonard McCoy

If there are still any folks believing that what is happening in Washington DC shows concern for reducing the deficit, take a read:

"The resolution lays out a $1.5 trillion floor for spending cuts across committees with a target of $2 trillion, puts a $4.5 trillion ceiling on the deficit impact of any GOP plan to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, and includes $300 billion in additional spending for the border and defense and a $4 trillion debt limit increase."

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5163 ... ervatives/

There's other quotes about denying the shredding of Medicaid while pointing out there's no real path to get the desired savings without huge cuts to the programs

All the destruction and pain is geared at keeping and increasing tax cuts for the wealthiest folks who have ever been carried around by wage slave powered sedan chairs.

Some reading about the USA's reversal in Foreign relations:

https://snyder.substack.com/p/affirmati ... tators-572

I'm sure folks are great at cherry picking talking points against USAID. All of the recent posts here have other folks talking about the context of same and showing the cherry picked talking points are full of lies by omission. Bottom line is that the US abandoned an enormous amount of soft power that took decades to acquire.


Brian Helfrich

Mentally Ill Casandra