I got all sniffly watching this earlier. Nice to have bits of joy mixed in with the awfulness.
2.
Villago Delenda Est
“And your little dog, too!”
Someone had to say it…
3.
the Conster
That is one tough cookie, and the dog is pretty tough too.
4.
JCT
Damn – I never cease to be amazed by these survival stories when the structures are completely obliterated. Poor doggie looks dazed!
Nice John – uplifting news in the middle of this deluge of natural disaster and political self-inflicted nonsense is greatly appreciated.
5.
Politically Lost
Damn you Cole. Can’t sit at my desk crying like this…
6.
PeakVT
I’m surprised the dog was so quiet.
Also, I hate leading questions. “You must be so devastated blah blah.” Let people put things in their own words.
7.
Spankyslappybottom
I love how that fucking “news” reporter can’t be bothered to help the 80-year-old lady remove sharp debris to help free the dog. The lady actually says “Help me!”
I also like her no-bullshit answer to the fake-compassionate question about how to comprehend what happened: “I know EXACTLY what happened here.” Suck on that, airhead TV newsmodel.
8.
eric
effing onions in the office today
9.
David Koch
Norah O’Donnell: Are you getting everything you need from the Federal Government?
Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb: We are. I was with the governor yesterday when she talked to the President. I was with the Governor yesterday when she made the request from FEMA. Everything the Governor has requested, Oklahoma has received.
This occurred at 8:30 AM this morning, less than 20 hours after yesterday’s tornado strike. Oklahoma has already received everything they asked for from Presidt who is just like Bush.
Fucker! We can’t have this kind of competence! Impeach him!
The dog is as tough as his mistress, who strikes me as one level headed lady.
17.
Betty Cracker
Awwwwwwwwww. That is all.
18.
strandedvandal
I think this encapsulates perfectly how reporters are constantly drilled to not be part of the story, but just to report it. They are so wrapped up in reporting it that the thought of actually helping never crosses their mind until the victim pleads for help. I bet the reporter looks back on this piece and feels a bit of shame. Cameraman as well if there is one.
19.
raven
Damn
20.
Litlebritdifrnt
Yeah the least the reporter could have done was help her move the debris before she was asked.
Speaking of doggies Flossie and Skeeter are getting on like a house on fire, and it looks like Skeeter is kind of meh on kitties, he’s sniffed a couple of butts but seems to be non committal about the whole thing. I will try and get some pictures when I let them out in the garden tonight.
21.
Trollhattan
Can somebody kindly provide a link to the vid? The imbed is invisible on this diesel-powered browser.Thx!
@Spankyslappybottom: I heard “I know exactly what happened, dear”, which I like even better! Best part of the video other than, well, the end.
24.
Randy P
@strandedvandal: The irony is that if she had followed her decent human instincts (assuming she has them) and gone on camera to help, it probably would have put her on the national stage overnight.
The Newseum has a Pulitzer Prize photo exhibit. I found it mind-numbingly depressing, because apparently you have your best shot of getting a Pulitzer if you catch someone who was dead shortly after you took the shot. And some of those photos are of kids. One photographer committed suicide in fact over guilt that he hadn’t helped the kid.
25.
JPL
@eric: It took twenty seconds from the time the reporter saw the dog until the dog was freed.
@JPL: it would have taken 2.3 seconds had i been standing there and the older lady who just survived a vicious tornado would be doing the heavy lifting.
A collection of tornado videos, including one showing it form. They convey “nature’s fury” in a way only matched by the Boxing Day and Japan tsunami videos. Brutal, brutal event.
This is why I couldn’t be a reporter–how could you help from putting your arms around that old lady and fuck the interview? She’s just like my elderly neighbor who, at 96, would absolutely have said “that’s life in the big city” to such a stupid question. God I love old ladies. They are tough.
34.
YellowJournalism
This made me all tears this morning. It’s not just that these dogs are like family to people; they are a symbol of hope that not all is lost.
35.
The Dangerman
Kinda looks like Toto, too.
36.
kindness
Oh John, did you swipe this from Sully? I saw it there earlier today.
Reality, strange to say, sometimes differs from what’s captured on video. For heaven’s sake, it takes about five seconds for the reporter’s hands to visibly help lift debris off the dog, and we don’t know what’s happening out-of-frame.
My, it would be nice to view some thirty seconds of heartwarming footage without the Experts opining on why they are outraged, and how in under three minutes they’ve determined that a stranger thousands of miles away should be ASHAMED, I tell you!
I will echo my friend Betty and confine myself to a well-researched and hearty “AWWWWWW.” Thank you, Mr. Cole, for the lift.
38.
Calming Influence
Any word on Soonergrunt?
39.
Yatsuno
Now that is a PUPPEH!!!
40.
Violet
What a great video. Thanks for linking it, John. Tough as nails, both the lady and her dod.
41.
Trollhattan
As typical, have to consult the BBC for updates. Death toll has been thankfully lowered from 91 (ME’s office last night) to 51 to 24. Charles Pierce in fine form this a.m.
By the way, here is the City Of Moore’s official FAQ page about storm shelters and the like. I may be wrong, but this fairly reeks of defensiveness. The explanation for the lack of storm shelters seems economically prissy and more than a tad lame—people won’t use them because they won’t leave their pets behind? So, therefore, we don’t build one? Really?—and the cruel irony of this tornado is that people were warned specifically not to “shelter in place” but, rather, to get in their cars and drive like hell. There is considerable real-time audio from local radio and TV to that effect. And this is a masterpiece of You’re On Your Own, Jack:
“What if I live in a mobile home?
This means that you have additional responsibility for your safety, and that begins much earlier! Mobile homes typically do not offer good shelter from thunderstorm winds, and that means you should find shelter elsewhere—perhaps the house of family or friends. You need to plan your actions long before thunderstorms arrive, and leave early…don’t wait until warnings are issued or the sirens are blowing to leave.”
you know, the talent and the cameraman generally have some equipment they are responsible for. What, you’re supposed to just toss a $1000 microphone or a $15,000 camera to the side? I don’t doubt that they helped as soon as they could, and as pointed out, the dog was freed within a few seconds.
Whenever I hear that term I think of friends who work as scenics in the movie industry. They work their asses off for days, and then hear someone yell “OK! Let’s bring in the talent!” The scenics are left slack-jawed, saying “WTF? I just transformed chicken wire, plaster and paint into a very realistic boulder, and they’re the talent?!?”
FWIW, I used the term sardonically, although I can’t figure out what emoticon to use for that.
46.
TAPX486
As you look over the miles and miles of destruction it is amazing that the death toll is only 24 at this point, If it remains that low it will be a miracle. There has been a lot of talk about basements and storm shelters but I wonder if Moore caught a huge break in the time of day the storm hit. It was mid afternoon, most kids still in school and the adults mostly at work. I wonder if many of those destroyed homes were empty at the time the tornado struck. It doesn’t replace the memories but at least it kept the death toll down. The death toll might have a lot higher if the storm had hit at 8pm when most folks were at home.
Of course the 15-20 minute warning from the NWS certainly helped those still at home. By hurricane standards its not a lot of time but for a tornado that’s about as good as it’s going to get
For heaven’s sake, it takes about five seconds for the reporter’s hands to visibly help lift debris off the dog, and we don’t know what’s happening out-of-frame….My, it would be nice to view some thirty seconds of heartwarming footage without the Experts opining on why they are outraged,
But Outrage is B-J’s middle name.
It does seem that there were other people there who were able to assist – they were the ones walking out with that wonderful, strong, typical Texan woman.
Of course the 15-20 minute warning from the NWS certainly helped those still at home. By hurricane standards its not a lot of time but for a tornado that’s about as good as it’s going to get.
Here on the left coast we woke up early yesterday morning – couldn’t have been later than 9AM central time – to the news that a heavy tornado alert was known for much of this area at that time. If we got the word hours before the actual event WTF was going on there in the belly of the beast that they only got 20-30 minute warning? Something’s fucked up or people don’t pay attention.
Also, too, there was another video from another tornado just a few years ago where a dog came out from hiding and went up to it’s owner(s) while an interview was in progress. Deja vu all over again. (Too lazy to check out You Tube but it must be in there.)
55.
AuroraD
@Spankyslappybottom: I was thinking the same thing. Hey, CBS Journamalist, whaddya mean “comprehend?” And yeah, how come you couldn’t help this awesome lady rescue her dog instead of just, I don’t know, standing there commentating? Asshole.
56.
mai naem
I saw this on my small smartphone earlier this am and I wanted to hug the woman. Much much better on a bigger screen. Awwwwwww!!!. Still want to hug the woman and get the dog a steak or something.
57.
Laertes
@AuroraD: Oh c’mon. It only took them a few seconds to react. If you watch that video and come away angry, you’re just looking way too hard for something to be angry about. Why shit in your own mouth like that?
58.
AuroraD
@Spankyslappybottom: I was just thinking the same thing. Hey, CBS Journamalist, whaddya mean, “comprehend?” And yeah, couldn’t you have, like, helped the 80-year-old lady rescue her dog out of the rubble instead of just, I don’t know, standing there commentating? Asshole.
59.
Larkspur
@Mrs. Polly: Thank you Mrs. Polly, and Laertes, and everyone else who has opted out of being all peevish. This was a touching story that we got to see because the camera crew was there working, because this woman is awesome, the dog survived, and help was given. We have the evidence. We all just watched the evidence. Why did we get to see the evidence? Because the camera crew was there working.
60.
AuroraD
@Laertes: Oh, come off it, Laertes, you’re being an asshole, too – nothing in my comment suggested that I came away angry. But I think I was justified to be pissed off by the “Were you devastigated? Was this the most INCOMPREHENSIBLE unbelievability that ever doomified? How horrificatedly and totally demolitionated did you feel? bullshit.
Of course, like every sentient life-form that saw it, I loved the video, was wiping my eyes just as my managing partner walked into my office with a new client. . . oops.
61.
fidelio
@maya: It’s late, but this is why, fom someone in the Dixie Alley part of tornado country. The NWS issues a Tornado Watch alert when there are conditions which are likely to lead to tornado formation. When a storm is known to exist, a Tornado Warning is issued. That’s the point where you need to seek shelter. If we dropped everything and hid every time a Tornado Watch is posted, we’d never get anything done during peak tornado season. Not every Watch results in a tornado, and there are a lot issued this time of year.
The great gift modern weather prediction (especially the radar systems) has given us is to make it possible for Tornado Warnings to be issued much earlier. Fifteen minutes leadtime is amazing, compared to what we used to get.
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Alison
I got all sniffly watching this earlier. Nice to have bits of joy mixed in with the awfulness.
Villago Delenda Est
“And your little dog, too!”
Someone had to say it…
the Conster
That is one tough cookie, and the dog is pretty tough too.
JCT
Damn – I never cease to be amazed by these survival stories when the structures are completely obliterated. Poor doggie looks dazed!
Nice John – uplifting news in the middle of this deluge of natural disaster and political self-inflicted nonsense is greatly appreciated.
Politically Lost
Damn you Cole. Can’t sit at my desk crying like this…
PeakVT
I’m surprised the dog was so quiet.
Also, I hate leading questions. “You must be so devastated blah blah.” Let people put things in their own words.
Spankyslappybottom
I love how that fucking “news” reporter can’t be bothered to help the 80-year-old lady remove sharp debris to help free the dog. The lady actually says “Help me!”
I also like her no-bullshit answer to the fake-compassionate question about how to comprehend what happened: “I know EXACTLY what happened here.” Suck on that, airhead TV newsmodel.
eric
effing onions in the office today
David Koch
This occurred at 8:30 AM this morning, less than 20 hours after yesterday’s tornado strike. Oklahoma has already received everything they asked for from Presidt who is just like Bush.
Fucker! We can’t have this kind of competence! Impeach him!
Todd
That poor pooch must’ve been knocked out cold, maybe even suffered a concussion. It had to have been laying there quite a while.
Comrade Mary
I love that lady. When asked if she could comprehend what was happening? “I know exactly what happened!”
Randy P
Caught that earlier today. It made me smile at least a little while numbly flipping through news reports
Comrade Mary
(But I’ll give the reporter credit for noticing the dog first. Poor thing seemed too dazed and weak to even whimper.)
feebog
Going viral in 3, 2, 1…
eric
@Comrade Mary: soulless fucks couldnt even race to help her….
Villago Delenda Est
@PeakVT:
The dog is as tough as his mistress, who strikes me as one level headed lady.
Betty Cracker
Awwwwwwwwww. That is all.
strandedvandal
I think this encapsulates perfectly how reporters are constantly drilled to not be part of the story, but just to report it. They are so wrapped up in reporting it that the thought of actually helping never crosses their mind until the victim pleads for help. I bet the reporter looks back on this piece and feels a bit of shame. Cameraman as well if there is one.
raven
Damn
Litlebritdifrnt
Yeah the least the reporter could have done was help her move the debris before she was asked.
Speaking of doggies Flossie and Skeeter are getting on like a house on fire, and it looks like Skeeter is kind of meh on kitties, he’s sniffed a couple of butts but seems to be non committal about the whole thing. I will try and get some pictures when I let them out in the garden tonight.
Trollhattan
Can somebody kindly provide a link to the vid? The imbed is invisible on this diesel-powered browser.Thx!
raven
@Trollhattan: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50147264n
TOP123
@Spankyslappybottom: I heard “I know exactly what happened, dear”, which I like even better! Best part of the video other than, well, the end.
Randy P
@strandedvandal: The irony is that if she had followed her decent human instincts (assuming she has them) and gone on camera to help, it probably would have put her on the national stage overnight.
The Newseum has a Pulitzer Prize photo exhibit. I found it mind-numbingly depressing, because apparently you have your best shot of getting a Pulitzer if you catch someone who was dead shortly after you took the shot. And some of those photos are of kids. One photographer committed suicide in fact over guilt that he hadn’t helped the kid.
JPL
@eric: It took twenty seconds from the time the reporter saw the dog until the dog was freed.
raven
@Randy P: General Loan at Tet.
eric
@JPL: it would have taken 2.3 seconds had i been standing there and the older lady who just survived a vicious tornado would be doing the heavy lifting.
raven
@eric: Well whoopteefuckingdoo mr badass.
JPL
@eric: I don’t disagree with you. The lady was so lucky to find the dog since he blended in with the rubble.
eric
@raven: nothing to do with being badass, that woman needed help…and yes i am a badass. YMMV
raven
@eric: yea, an internet badass
Trollhattan
@raven:
Thanks!
A collection of tornado videos, including one showing it form. They convey “nature’s fury” in a way only matched by the Boxing Day and Japan tsunami videos. Brutal, brutal event.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/05/tornado-videos-from-moore-oklahoma.html
aimai
This is why I couldn’t be a reporter–how could you help from putting your arms around that old lady and fuck the interview? She’s just like my elderly neighbor who, at 96, would absolutely have said “that’s life in the big city” to such a stupid question. God I love old ladies. They are tough.
YellowJournalism
This made me all tears this morning. It’s not just that these dogs are like family to people; they are a symbol of hope that not all is lost.
The Dangerman
Kinda looks like Toto, too.
kindness
Oh John, did you swipe this from Sully? I saw it there earlier today.
@The Dangerman: Kinda looks like Toto, too.
A fat one.
Mrs. Polly
Reality, strange to say, sometimes differs from what’s captured on video. For heaven’s sake, it takes about five seconds for the reporter’s hands to visibly help lift debris off the dog, and we don’t know what’s happening out-of-frame.
My, it would be nice to view some thirty seconds of heartwarming footage without the Experts opining on why they are outraged, and how in under three minutes they’ve determined that a stranger thousands of miles away should be ASHAMED, I tell you!
I will echo my friend Betty and confine myself to a well-researched and hearty “AWWWWWW.” Thank you, Mr. Cole, for the lift.
Calming Influence
Any word on Soonergrunt?
Yatsuno
Now that is a PUPPEH!!!
Violet
What a great video. Thanks for linking it, John. Tough as nails, both the lady and her dod.
Trollhattan
As typical, have to consult the BBC for updates. Death toll has been thankfully lowered from 91 (ME’s office last night) to 51 to 24. Charles Pierce in fine form this a.m.
zombie rotten mcdonald
you know, the talent and the cameraman generally have some equipment they are responsible for. What, you’re supposed to just toss a $1000 microphone or a $15,000 camera to the side? I don’t doubt that they helped as soon as they could, and as pointed out, the dog was freed within a few seconds.
zombie rotten mcdonald
but, rather, to get in their cars and drive like hell.
I confess if I found myself in Oklahoma, that would pretty much be my reaction.
Calming Influence
@zombie rotten mcdonald:
Whenever I hear that term I think of friends who work as scenics in the movie industry. They work their asses off for days, and then hear someone yell “OK! Let’s bring in the talent!” The scenics are left slack-jawed, saying “WTF? I just transformed chicken wire, plaster and paint into a very realistic boulder, and they’re the talent?!?”
zombie rotten mcdonald
@Calming Influence:
FWIW, I used the term sardonically, although I can’t figure out what emoticon to use for that.
TAPX486
As you look over the miles and miles of destruction it is amazing that the death toll is only 24 at this point, If it remains that low it will be a miracle. There has been a lot of talk about basements and storm shelters but I wonder if Moore caught a huge break in the time of day the storm hit. It was mid afternoon, most kids still in school and the adults mostly at work. I wonder if many of those destroyed homes were empty at the time the tornado struck. It doesn’t replace the memories but at least it kept the death toll down. The death toll might have a lot higher if the storm had hit at 8pm when most folks were at home.
Of course the 15-20 minute warning from the NWS certainly helped those still at home. By hurricane standards its not a lot of time but for a tornado that’s about as good as it’s going to get
MomSense
Beautiful.
Keith G
@Mrs. Polly:
But Outrage is B-J’s middle name.
It does seem that there were other people there who were able to assist – they were the ones walking out with that wonderful, strong, typical Texan woman.
Nonetheless outrage away.
Keith G
deleted by me
Big Wayne
@Spankyslappybottom: I really don’t get the hostility. Why so angry?
LABiker
Made me tear up a little but, until I realized it was totally staged.
alhutch
So glad that woman found her Schnauzer alive and seemingly uninjured.
BTW, he’s not really fat. Toto was a Cairn, which is a much smaller terrier.
bargal
God can only answer a limited number of prayers. For every dog he saves, he has to let a schoolkid die
maya
@TAPX486:
Here on the left coast we woke up early yesterday morning – couldn’t have been later than 9AM central time – to the news that a heavy tornado alert was known for much of this area at that time. If we got the word hours before the actual event WTF was going on there in the belly of the beast that they only got 20-30 minute warning? Something’s fucked up or people don’t pay attention.
Also, too, there was another video from another tornado just a few years ago where a dog came out from hiding and went up to it’s owner(s) while an interview was in progress. Deja vu all over again. (Too lazy to check out You Tube but it must be in there.)
AuroraD
@Spankyslappybottom: I was thinking the same thing. Hey, CBS Journamalist, whaddya mean “comprehend?” And yeah, how come you couldn’t help this awesome lady rescue her dog instead of just, I don’t know, standing there commentating? Asshole.
mai naem
I saw this on my small smartphone earlier this am and I wanted to hug the woman. Much much better on a bigger screen. Awwwwwww!!!. Still want to hug the woman and get the dog a steak or something.
Laertes
@AuroraD: Oh c’mon. It only took them a few seconds to react. If you watch that video and come away angry, you’re just looking way too hard for something to be angry about. Why shit in your own mouth like that?
AuroraD
@Spankyslappybottom: I was just thinking the same thing. Hey, CBS Journamalist, whaddya mean, “comprehend?” And yeah, couldn’t you have, like, helped the 80-year-old lady rescue her dog out of the rubble instead of just, I don’t know, standing there commentating? Asshole.
Larkspur
@Mrs. Polly: Thank you Mrs. Polly, and Laertes, and everyone else who has opted out of being all peevish. This was a touching story that we got to see because the camera crew was there working, because this woman is awesome, the dog survived, and help was given. We have the evidence. We all just watched the evidence. Why did we get to see the evidence? Because the camera crew was there working.
AuroraD
@Laertes: Oh, come off it, Laertes, you’re being an asshole, too – nothing in my comment suggested that I came away angry. But I think I was justified to be pissed off by the “Were you devastigated? Was this the most INCOMPREHENSIBLE unbelievability that ever doomified? How horrificatedly and totally demolitionated did you feel? bullshit.
Of course, like every sentient life-form that saw it, I loved the video, was wiping my eyes just as my managing partner walked into my office with a new client. . . oops.
fidelio
@maya: It’s late, but this is why, fom someone in the Dixie Alley part of tornado country. The NWS issues a Tornado Watch alert when there are conditions which are likely to lead to tornado formation. When a storm is known to exist, a Tornado Warning is issued. That’s the point where you need to seek shelter. If we dropped everything and hid every time a Tornado Watch is posted, we’d never get anything done during peak tornado season. Not every Watch results in a tornado, and there are a lot issued this time of year.
The great gift modern weather prediction (especially the radar systems) has given us is to make it possible for Tornado Warnings to be issued much earlier. Fifteen minutes leadtime is amazing, compared to what we used to get.