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I drive a bus.
Author: TriSec    Date: 06/02/2018 10:43:26

Good Morning.

I make my living piloting one of these through the streets of Boston.

https://cdn.trolleytours.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/trolley-stop-store-600x580.jpg



This is called a "stadium trolley". It's made by the Molly Trolley corporation of Wells, Maine and is quite a beast.

The one I drive is the biggest version; it's 39 feet long, 14 feet tall, and over 32,000 pounds when it's fully loaded.

Of course, they don't let just anybody drive these things. I have a Commercial Driver's License (Class B ) with a passenger and airbrake endorsement, and I spent many weeks learning how to navigate through the streets of Boston last year.

But then there is my medical card.

A few weeks back, my annual physical was due. It's a lengthy process, and they check many things that would normally be checked by my PCP. But chief among them, they are looking at my blood pressure, sleeping habits, blood chemistry, and vision. Any one of these things might be a disqualifying event and would prevent me from driving said trolley.

Last year, I was actually unable to pass the vision portion. At the time, my glasses could only correct me back to 20/40 vision in my bad eye, and I needed a minimum of 20/30 to pass. So, like any resourceful American...I memorized the eyechart and squeaked through.

That was actually the catalyst for checking out eye surgery, and once that went south, finally going back and getting contact lenses. While my overall health remains good, my vision was significantly improved (up to 20/20, in fact!) and I passed the re-certification easily this year.

But my point is - all of this just to drive a bus and carry passengers for hire.

As we all know, there's no qualifying medical exam to be President of the United States. Which is why I find stories like this to be particularly disturbing.


(HOUSTON) — Seeking to comfort grieving families and shaken survivors, President Donald Trump spent more than an hour privately Thursday with some of those impacted by a Texas mass school shooting that killed 10 and wounded more than a dozen on May 18.

The latest spasm of violence in a year marred by assaults on the nation’s schools, the shooting at Santa Fe High School was the latest to test the president’s role as national comforter-in-chief. Trump met with more than two dozen people affected by the shooting, and did not publicly share his message for the grieving families and local leaders during a meeting at a Coast Guard base outside Houston.

Pamela Stanich — whose 17-year-old son, Jared Black, was among the eight students killed — was one of the parents who met with Trump, presenting him with a family statement and a copy of her son’s eulogy.

Trump “met with us privately and showed sincerity, compassion, and concern on making our schools safer across the nation,” she wrote in a Facebook post after the meeting. “He spent time talking to the survivors and asking on what happened and what would have made a difference. Changes are coming for the good. Thank you Mr. Trump.”

Rhonda Hart, whose 14-year-old daughter, Kimberly Vaughan, was killed at the school, told The Associated Press that Trump repeatedly used the word ‘wacky’ to describe the shooter and the trench coat he wore. She said she told Trump, “Maybe if everyone had access to mental health care, we wouldn’t be in the situation.”

Hart, an Army veteran, said she also suggested employing veterans as sentinels in schools. She said Trump responded, “And arm them?” She replied, “No,” but said Trump “kept mentioning” arming classroom teachers. “It was like talking to a toddler,” Hart said.

Reporters were not permitted to witness the meeting.


Whether or not you agree with any president's policies, we should be able to expect that the leader of us all might at least act like an adult in certain situations. After all, if I can't drive a trolley due to health or mental issues, because I might kill someone, what does it say of the person that could literally destroy the entire world? Should there not be a higher standard?

There has been increasing talk of invoking the 25th amendment, section 4. For my line of work, it's easy - if doc says I'm not healthy enough to work, I don't get my medical card and I don't drive. I'm beginning to wonder when we reach that point in the oval office.


Section 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.






 
 
 

1 comments (Latest Comment: 06/03/2018 13:48:06 by velveeta jones)
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Comment by velveeta jones on 06/03/2018 13:48:06
That's a damn big bus! Glad you're in good health.