Tadman wrote: Then he ran that absurd article about how his buddy whispered in his ear that Penn Central execs were caught on film with naked callgirls and that's why congress denied them a bailout.
I have no knowledge on that allegation other than what was written. But I fail to see what is so absurd. It's not far-fetched to think some "guests" were on board the plane - incidents of railroaders and loose women could fill several books and nobody is naive enough to think it only happened at the switchtender level.
And IIRC the Phillips story did not say Congress as a body denied funding because of the incident. Rather, one key (and powerful) politician allegedly had the info and dug his heels in. In a great many cases, that's exactly how things get done - or NOT done - in Washington.
It's unlikely, given the passing of time, that any new information on the alleged incident will come forth, and we will never know for certain. But personally I don't find the possibility absurd at all.