Welcome to my daily distractions online!. Enjoy!

There are still quite a few hurdles to overcome, but this may be one of the most exciting travel related pieces of news in some time!

A small privately owned Washington company named Northeast Maglev is looking to develop a high-speed rail system that would take passengers from the District to Baltimore in 15 minutes and to New York in an hour. The company is working with Central Japan Railway Co. to create a maglev network that would connect Washington and New York and eventually extend the line to Boston. Stops in between would include Baltimore, Wilmington and Philadelphia, including BWI Airport, Philadelphia International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport.

Let’s just hope it beats the unrelated proposal by Amtrak to build a high-speed rail system in the region by 2040, because I’d like to use the train before I’m using a walker.

As if there was any doubt that DOMA was fucked up, a Federal Trial Court in New York found DOMA unconstitutional.

Towleroad provides some background on this case:

The ACLU and Paul Weiss are bringing the case of Edie Windsor, the 81-year-old widow of Thea Spyer, subject of the documentary, Edie and Thea: A Very Long Engagement, and who was forced to pay $350,000 in estate taxes on Thea’s estate upon her death because the federal government did not recognize that the two were married. Had DOMA Section 3 not been on the books and Edie enjoyed federal recognition of her marriage, Thea could have passed her entire estate to Edie tax free.

This case is out of New York, which does not have marriage equality, but recognizes same-sex marriages legally performed elsewhere. That only slightly changes the legal landscape, but not in any significant way. Suffice it to say, Edie’s and Thea’s marriage was legal in New York, and while they received state benefits, they received no federal benefits and were subject to the federal estate tax. Because they weren’t married in the eyes of the federal government, which permits estates to pass from spouse to spouse upon death tax free, Edie was treated differently than similarly situated heterosexual couples simply because Edie is a lesbian and married a woman.

The ACLU is asking for a declaration that DOMA Section 3, as applied to Edie via the IRS code, is unconstitutional. Edie is seeking her $350,000 back from the government.