I said for 28 years for the Library Congress and retired a couple years ago. He told me that the National Book festival was something he needed help with and had been started in 2001 as an idea that came from laura bush, laura bush asked Jim Billington around the time of the inauguration in 2001 whether not there was a National Book festival comparable to the one she started in the texas, the texas book festival he said there is not yet but there will be. He came up with the idea of how to put together National Book festival, the idea was to do it in the mall in a series of tents that were set up for the first year end then it turned out getting sponsorships were more difficult than they thought it would be. So he asked me if i get involved and i told him i would do so and i began to be a sponsor and a cochair of the event, ive done that for ten years or so. It is very important to me that the festival goes well and i enjoyed a great deal is a great gift for the country to have a natio
And ceo of the association of american railroads. Jim cb, commissioner of the southwest chief and Front Range Passenger Rail commission, and jennifer homendy, Member National Transportation Safety board. I continue to be a strong supporter of our real industry both freight and passenger. Rail service is safe and efficient. It also reduces congestion on our highways and spurs economic growth. In mississippi, for example, we have 26 Freight Railroads, 2,400 miles of track, five of the seven class ones, two longdistance amtrak routes, 10 stations, and more than 100,000 annual riders. Rail is vital to mississippi. I have been a tireless advocate for the restoration of the gulf coast Passenger Service, which was suspended in 2005 after hurricane katrina. With funding support from dot, amtrak, and the states, i am pleased to report that mississippi, louisiana, and alabama are likely once again to have this amtrak route and that will give mississippi a third amtrak route. Restoration of this
Learning. Thank you. Really to share as you. Thank thank you so much for being with us this afternoon. And it is such a delight for me to be able to talk with my colleague and very good friend phil rucker and i am going to start out by telling you a story about phil rucker and i am going to tell this story and so why isnt phil telling this story . Because hes too much of a gentleman to tell this story because it makes me look really bad. Election night 2016. Phil had been out with trump quite a bit and he kept saying, you know, somethings going on out there. And i had written a story over the weekend saying, well, theres this little tiny eye of a needle that donald trump could get through. You know, michigan and parts of it. But i didnt really believe it. So its Election Night. I am supposed to be writing the lead off for the Washington Post. The next day. It is 830 a Election Night and i am 80 inches. Its into america elect its first woman president. So phil shows up at my office and
Thank you so much for being with us this afternoon. And it is such a delight for me to be able to talk with my colleague and very good friend phil rucker and i am going to start out by telling you a story i am going to tell this story and so why isnt phil telling this story . Because hes too much of a gentleman to tell this story because it makes me look really bad. Election night 2016. Phil had been out with trump quite a bit and he kept saying, you know, somethings going on out there. And i had written a story over the weekend saying, well, theres this little tiny eye of a needle that donald trump could get through. You know, michigan and parts of it. But i didnt really believe it. So its Election Night. I am supposed to be writing the lead off for the Washington Post. The next day. It is 830 a Election Night and i am 80 inches. Its into america elect its first woman president. So phil shows up at my office and he says karen, did you see what just happened in florida . And i said, ph
Recognize the people for whom this memoryal a constructed to your right those whiteheads stones 20002 hundred and 73 are for people that fought in the korean war for those men and women and for all of you here were a debt of gratitude will all korean war veterans please stand and be recognized clapping. thank you, gentlemen. We also, of course wouldnt be here without donations so wild all donors who that made this possible to please stand and be recognized clapping. thank you, gentlemen ladies and gentlemen, we also have with us today each of uh our distinguished guests 23rr789 will be speaking several will not i want to acknowledge and recognize them first we have Supervisor Scott Wiener of San Francisco and we have Vice President of the are korean war Million Foundation a strong supporter of korean war veterans mr. Mann jay kim clapping. lets see our next speaker is a man who most of you know judge convincing necessarily restored are r retired superior court judge and now want and ch