Tonight's guest on The Daily Show is Sen. Al Franken and panelists Gayle King, Riki Lindhome, and Jordan Carlos discuss removing the Confederate flag from the South Carolina statehouse.
Al Franken is an entertainer and politician. He is currently the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. Franken became well known in the 1970s and 1980s as a writer and performer on Saturday Night Live (SNL). After several decades as a comedic actor and writer, he became a prominent liberal political activist and was elected to the United States Senate, narrowly defeating incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman in 2008. Franken is a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), an affiliate of the Democratic Party.
I am sure they will be discussing many topics, however Franken has recently been discussing rail safety
Al Franken: Rail safety must remain key priority in Minnesota
But in recent years, the large railroad companies have quickly ramped up the number of rail cars carrying highly volatile and flammable Bakken crude oil from North Dakota through Minnesota to refineries in other states.
While this change has meant more profits for the railroads, it has also taken up room on trains normally used by our agriculture shippers, and it has forced temporary shutdowns at Minnesota coal-fired power plants when backlogged rail service left utilities unable to replenish coal stockpiles.
But perhaps most concerning to me — and to a great many families and public officials across Minnesota — is the unprecedented danger posed every day by shipping so much volatile oil through communities that may or may not be prepared for the extremely explosive crashes that come when an oil train derails.
There are many steps we can take to make oil trains safer, and I've urged federal transportation officials to take an "all of the above" approach to ensure that oil travels more safely.
I've called for safer tank cars and for rerouting trains that are carrying this highly explosive oil through populated areas. I've also pressed to make sure that the volatility of the crude itself is reduced to make it safer before it's loaded onto the trains.
More recently, I've called for the railroads to provide communities and their first responders with all the information they need to quickly react in the event of an accident.
In response to my calls for action, the Department of Transportation has taken some useful steps to help keep our communities safe. In May, it announced new standards for trains carrying flammable fuels.
The rules require that new tank cars have thicker shells and other improvements to make them safer in the event of a derailment. And within five years, all trains carrying crude will have to meet this standard. While this is a step in the right direction, we can't slow-walk the rollout of safer tank cars, and I'll push to make this happen more quickly.
It is worth reading the whole piece, it is short. When Keystone is defeated, that toxic crude will still be making its way to refineries in the US just at a slower pace on rail and those tanker cars must be safe. The environmental damage that one of those cars derailing near a waterway could do is astonishing and companies must be made to transport that toxic stuff safely.
Gayle King
is a co-anchor of CBS This Morning and an editor-at-large for O, The Oprah Magazine.
Riki Lindhome
is an American actress, comedian and musician. She is best known for roles in television shows including Garfunkel and Oates, Gilmore Girls, House, The Big Bang Theory and United States of Tara, and for the comedy music duo Garfunkel and Oates, which she formed with Kate Micucci. She hosts the Nerdist podcast Making It.
Jordan Carlos
is an American stand-up comedian who played a recurring character on The Colbert Report and is a co-host on the Nickelodeon kids' show "Me TV." He currently appears as a panelist and reporter on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.
This Week's Guests
THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART
Tu 6/23: Seth MacFarlane
We 6/24: Judge Andrew Napolitano
Th 6/25: Richard Lewis