Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Second rate reporter says what?

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

The willow is too close to the house.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

I was promised a recession.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

You cannot shame the shameless.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

You are here: Home / Organizing & Resistance / Don't Mourn, Organize / Friday Morning Open Thread: Look for the Helpers

Friday Morning Open Thread: Look for the Helpers

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Apart from (doing our best) staying positive, what’s on the agenda as we wrap up the week?
***********

From Quartz, pretty good use of social media — “A three-day-old crowdsourcing website is helping volunteers save lives in hurricane-hit Houston”:

On the night of Sunday, Aug. 28, Matthew Marchetti was one of thousands of Houstonians feeling powerless as their city drowned in tropical storm Harvey’s deluge.

By Monday morning, the 27-year-old developer, sitting in his leaky office, had slapped together an online mapping tool to track stranded residents. A day later, nearly 5,000 people had registered to be rescued, and 2,700 of them were safe.

If there’s a silver lining to Harvey, it’s the flood of civilian volunteers such as Marchetti who have joined the rescue effort. It became pretty clear shortly after the storm started pounding Houston that the city would need their help. The heavy rains quickly outstripped authorities’ ability to respond. People watched water levels rise around them while they waited on hold to get connected to a 911 dispatcher. Desperate local officials asked owners of high-water vehicles and boats to help collect their fellow citizens trapped on second-stories and roofs…

The idea behind his project, Houstonharveyrescue.com, is simple. The map lets people in need register their location. They are asked to include details—for example, if they’re sick or have small children—and their cell phone numbers.

The army of rescuers, who can also register on the site, can then easily spot the neediest cases. A team of 100 phone dispatchers follows up with those wanting to be rescued, and can send mass text messages with important information. An algorithm weeds out any repeats.

It might be one of the first open-sourced rescue missions in the US, and could be a valuable blueprint for future disaster volunteers…

Reader Interactions

90Comments

  2. 2.

    Sab

    One thing that has changed since Katrina is that now there is awareness that most petowners won’t evacuate without a safe place for their pets.

  3. 3.

    Anne Laurie

    @Sab: Yes, that seems to have been helpful! It’s why they’re shipping animals out of Houston-area shelters to rescues elsewhere — it means the TX shelters can keep peoples’ pets safe until they can go home again together. (Even in cases where ‘home’ turns out to be a whole different place… )

  5. 5.

    Anne Laurie

    @Baud:

    So you’re saying I shouldn’t donate my old mattresses?

    Do you really wanna give Trump any more bad ideas?

  6. 6.

    Sab

    The other big lack is families with special needs. I have family that couldn’t go to shelters because of parents with dementia, and children with downs syndrome or with autism. They survived the last big storm, but what about the next. Shelters with 10,000 people aren’t a realistic option.

  10. 10.

    JAFD

    There are many sales of ‘back to school’ stuff this weekend. Some of us plan no academic endeavours in the coming months, but there are items we need / want / can use which are readily available and/or cheap now, difficult to acquire the rest of the year. So wondering what’s on your shopping list ?

    For my part, got big bottle of ‘general purpose white glue named after bull’ (was almost impossible to find in March, spent more for ittybitty bottle then than giant one last week), a box of dozen mechanical pencils (kept half, put one everywhere I could conceivably need pencil, giving rest away), a box of 24 crayons (50 cents, couldn’t resist, might be useful…)

    Still looking for ‘locker mirror’ (unbreakable reflector, tho I want one to stick up in bathtub) and a roll of double-sided-sticky ‘poster tape’

    And if you said ‘A New Ruler’, go stand in the corner ;-)

    Happy Labor Day, everyone, and Back To School for the teachers, students, supporting cast, etc of Balloon Juice !

  11. 11.

    satby

    @rikyrah: Good morning ?!

    @Baud: you wouldn’t believe the trash people really do “donate” sometimes. Dirty clothes with holes, old electric stuff that doesn’t work, unusable pots and pans with the teflon peeling off. Many people are very kind and generous, but some people are just nuts (or jerks) and the manpower to sort and dispose of donated goods takes volunteers away from other tasks. Always donate money ?!

  12. 12.

    Schlemazel

    @Sab:
    It seems an app like the one mentioned in the post is a good starting point for dealing with issues like those. It would be a simple tweak to include special needs and homes that could accommodate them.

  14. 14.

    Schlemazel

    @satby:
    I can’t tell you the number of times I have helped sort or food shelves and had to throw garbage away. The most memorable was a can of beans with the top and bottom expanded more that I would have thought possible and the bulging sides made the can almost round. I was afraid to handle it because I figured it was ready to explode.

    SOme people are just assholes.

  15. 15.

    satby

    @Baud: oh yeah old underwear is always a treat. Bonus if unlaundered. And I know you’re kidding.

    @Schlemazel: after I posted the first comment I realized I hadn’t mentioned the expired food. Especially the expired pasta boxes with mealy bugs.

  18. 18.

    Sab

    @Schlemazel: Thanks. I live in the Midwest where our disasters are tornados, and the only response is how fast can you and the dogs get to the basement. My in laws near the Gulf have a whole different set of concerns and options, and none of those seem to be good or safe.

  21. 21.

    bystander

    We went with Americares and the ASPCA, but we are assiduously avoiding seeing photos of the rescued animals that were shipped near us in Orange County.

    Looks as if we are leaving the city today, so won’t be able to make the BJ meet up. Hope it’s fun and be sure to ask Alain to publish any Weegee-style photos of the jackals the NYPost may take.

  26. 26.

    Jeffro

    I missed this (from 2 days ago) until this morning: Trump’s Insubordination Problem.

    …why should those working for him fear him or be loyal to him? With his loss of moral legitimacy post-Charlottesville, the president is more dependent on the people around him than they are on him. Trump’s debilitated state has a late-Nixon feel—when he is only seven months in.

    Globalist Gary, as his Trumpist enemies style him, is invested with considerable market power, more than any political official besides the president himself. Tillerson is eminently replaceable, but his immediate sacking would be too destabilizing at a fragile moment. If Mattis were to leave, it would cause a freak-out on Capitol Hill and around the world. Never has a president had so many un-fireable subordinates.

    Mattis and Co. obviously consider themselves the president’s minders more than his underlings. But the least they could do is not air this patronizing attitude. They are impressive and accomplished people, but no one elected any of them president of the United States. They don’t do the country any favors by highlighting Trump’s weakness and by making it obvious that the American government doesn’t speak with one voice.

    It should be up to chief of staff John Kelly to make it stop. What these officials are doing is much worse than a White House aide slipping into the Oval Office to leave a printed article from WorldNetDaily on a corner of the Resolute Desk. It’s worse than Steve Bannon feverishly trying to undermine H.R. McMaster, which is simply staff-level intramural politics taken to another level.

    This isn’t “the system working,” the cliché for how various other power centers have thwarted Trump in the early going. It’s the system gone haywire and tottering on the brink of a more serious crisis.

    Nothing good can come from top officials of the U.S. government making it obvious that they believe, to borrow Tillerson’s phrase, that the president speaks for himself—and no one else.

    See, according to Rich Lowry, the problem isn’t that Trumpov’s a raging, moronic maniac: it’s that all these guys like Mattis and Cohn are making him look bad. Hey Rich, you dick, the ‘more serious crisis’ began the moment this buffoon and his minions decided to keep the grift going, work with the Russians, giggle over the enabling of the American media, accept the nomination, win, and then govern like the 71-year-old Fox News addict that Trumpov is.

  28. 28.

    MomSense

    @Schlemazel: @satby:

    And this is why we raise money for the backpack program so we can buy the food ourselves.

    Have to put in a plug for the backpack program. Check your local food bank and schools to see if you have one. We fill packs of food for teachers to discreetly put in their students’ backpacks so they have food to eat over the weekend.

  31. 31.

    satby

    @Jeffro: yeah, Lowry’s worry is how this undercuts the worst person ever to sit in that office, not that Drumpf shouldn’t be there in the first place. But then, Palin gave him starbursts, so Rich is a pretty poor judge of everything.

  32. 32.

    Skepticat

    My insignificant other listens to Faux News (yes, remove the “a”), and as I was passing the TV this morning, I heard one of the fair and balanced commenters talking about rescue efforts–and how there are no liberals doing a single thing to help people. Exfreakingcuse me? I thought I showed admirable restraint by not smashing the TV–or him–but I’m not certain how long I can continue that.
    Good friends in Houston who were flooded out already had all the sheetrock and insulation torn out of their house by early yesterday, and there were dozens of friends and neighbors pitching in (as I might if I weren’t two thousand miles away). Although it wouldn’t have crossed my mind to pay attention to this, I happen to know that most of them lean left. BUT WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH IT?

  34. 34.

    satby

    Wow, I just realized today is the anniversary of my move to S.Bend following the mini-disaster of the tree totaling the house in Michigan. Been two hectic and chaotic years, now settling into normalcy (personally, not nationally). Wish I could share it with everyone.

  38. 38.

    rikyrah

    @Jeffro:
    This is a problem. And, if this were a legitimate President, I would be more worried. As it is, we need the protection FROM Dolt45. We’re trying to survive here.

  40. 40.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    He’s a bad manager though. It’s a lot of words that say “he’s a bad manager”. Voids get filled by ambitious people, and Trump is a void.

    It still blows me away that the entire premise of his Presidency is complete bullshit. He’s not even good at firing, which was his tag line. He’s unusually bad at firing.

    Bad at hiring and bad at firing = bad manager. There’s no other possible result to that equation. It’s 80% of his job.

  41. 41.

    donnah

    I have a Paypal account, and they offered a list of secure charities where donations can be directed. I donated to one for people and one for animals. My husband and I are also putting together some cases of bottled water, toliletries, and some pet food to be dropped off at a relief station downtown, which will be driven to the flood areas.

    Every little bit helps.

  42. 42.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Sab:

    The other big lack is families with special needs.

    This. We’ve started working on emergency preparedness in our little community. One big issue is ensuring people have their meds and other necessary devices with them or documented if/when they need to evacuate. As well as having the proper care in a reasonably hospitable environment wherever they end up.

    And good morning!

  44. 44.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    Mattis and Co. obviously consider themselves the president’s minders more than his underlings. But the least they could do is not air this patronizing attitude. They are impressive and accomplished people, but no one elected any of them president of the United States. They don’t do the country any favors by highlighting Trump’s weakness and by making it obvious that the American government doesn’t speak with one voice.

    This to me is this crazy idea that the appearance of something matters more than the thing itself. If all these people pretend Trump is good at the job Americans will believe he’s good at the job….and, what? What happens then? It somehow won’t matter what actually happens? It’s wacky.

    It’s not our job to prop up institutions by believing in institutions. They’re supposed to be substantively credible and then we believe in them. The “belief” was grounded in performance. It wasn’t a strings-free gift that never expires. The President can’t draw credibility from The Presidency. It’s not a bank where he makes withdrawals. He has to earn it himself.

  45. 45.

    Jeffro

    @satby: I know, right? How does anyone with half a brain not see that these guys undercutting Trumpov helps keep America safer? (Answer: Lowry has less than half a brain, I guess)

  47. 47.

    Jeffro

    @Skepticat:

    My insignificant other listens to Faux News (yes, remove the “a”), and as I was passing the TV this morning, I heard one of the fair and balanced commenters talking about rescue efforts–and how there are no liberals doing a single thing to help people.

    it’s worse than that…there are quite a few memes going around about how Black Lives Matter protestors have been blocking police and food/medical aid deliveries. No joke.

    They are at the point where they have to outright lie and make shit up just to keep their dwindling base in line. I’m not sure if I should be upset or glad for that.

  51. 51.

    Jeffro

    @rikyrah:

    This is a problem. And, if this were a legitimate President, I would be more worried. As it is, we need the protection FROM Dolt45. We’re trying to survive here.

    True – we do need the protection, and extraordinary times require extraordinary measures. Trumpov, Bannon, & Co have been relying on the tendency for normal folks to keep trying to act normal. Fuck that. Go Mattis, Cohn, and Tillerson (until we can get Trumpov out of there, anyway, and then y’all have to go, too)

  52. 52.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @satby:

    I just realized today is the anniversary of my move to S.Bend following the mini-disaster of the tree totaling the house in Michigan.

    Wow, already? I remember the tree fall and saga of the insurance non-help. Seems like only yesterday. I’m so glad that your move to S. Bend has worked out well for you. Now to get that office job sorted out. Or ended – are you still planning to leave at the end of this year?

  53. 53.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: What’s amazing is how it clearly has not dawned on Lowry that having Mattis, Cohn, Tillerson, etc “tow the party line” and quit making the president* look bad won’t make the problem go away. The problem IS the president*. They could tow the ever-loving shit out of the party line and it won’t matter.

    I’m shocked that more of the GOP leadership isn’t encouraging Trumpov to ‘declare victory and go home’ while he still can. But then, they know what a vindictive little mean girl he is, and how he’d just as likely sic his mouth-breathing base on them, just out of spite.

  54. 54.

    satby

    @Jeffro: I have seen those memes on FB. It’s really vital for all of us to debunk that stuff every time we encounter it. I use the Hamilton bot tracker to show people these are propaganda memes pushed by Russian bots. Even if it doesn’t convince them, it shuts them up to be accused of pushing Russian propaganda.
    Hat tip to Cheryl Rofer for first posting that.

  57. 57.

    Jeffro

    Btw, the always on-point Catherine Rampell puts it this way in today’s WaPo: the only guiding principle of the Republicans is that they always want to cut taxes for the rich. Only the sales pitch or rationale ever changes.

    Republicans have one idea and one idea only: That we should cut taxes for the rich. The only thing that changes is the sales pitch.

    And the latest pitch, offered by President Trump on Wednesday, is a bit of a doozy.

    Back around 2012, when Mitt Romney was running for president, the pitch was that we wanted to encourage “job creators” (i.e., rich people) to work harder. Their taxes were so high that it simply wasn’t worth it for them to put in that marginal hour at the office, or to build that additional business.

    The payoff would be too low, particularly relative to how much money they’d already accumulated. Why bother putting in the extra effort, even if that extra effort might create a job or higher wages for someone else?

    Romney was a suitable spokesperson for this argument. He was, after all, a successful businessman who had built and grown lots of companies. He could make a credible case that if people like him were given the choice between working an extra hour and spending that hour golfing, the economy might benefit if he chose the office.

    Today, of course, Trump can’t make the same argument with a straight face.

    He and his plutocratic entourage have illustrated how many rich people add somewhere between zero and negative value to the world around them when they spend additional time “working.”

    The more hours Betsy DeVos, Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr. devote to golfing and vacationing, the better. They’d do less damage that way. If anything, their working lives thus far make the case for higher marginal tax rates.

  58. 58.

    satby

    @O. Felix Culpa: I

    are you still planning to leave at the end of this year?

    Yes! And only waiting that long to try to help them finish a very long delayed IT project, and then the end of benefits rush when people suddenly remember in the last week of the year they haven’t used their vision benefits and are about to lose them. And after that point I will skip merrily away from the cray-cray that is working for that manager.

  60. 60.

    satby

    @MomSense: thanks! I think if there is an afterlife that my mom would be pleased at how she helped me reach a safe harbor. And she’d really have liked this house. Wish I could have shown her it.

  64. 64.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @satby:

    And after that point I will skip merrily away from the cray-cray that is working for that manager.

    Yippee! Anticipatory happy dance for you!

  65. 65.

    satby

    @debbie: one of my old bosses just landed a VP gig and has implied she’s going to be looking to build our old account team back. I’m not sure how to think about that, but I haven’t been offered anything (officially) either. If that happens I’ll cross that bridge then.

  67. 67.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Poor widdle Trumpelstiltskin: During a summer of crisis, Trump chafes against criticism and new controls

    President Trump spent the final days of August dutifully performing his job. He tended to the massive recovery from Hurricane Harvey. He hit the road to sell his tax-cut plan. And he convened policy meetings on the federal budget and the North Korean nuclear threat.

    Behind the scenes during a summer of crisis, however, Trump appears to pine for the days when the Oval Office was a bustling hub of visitors and gossip, over which he presided as impresario. He fumes that he does not get the credit he thinks he deserves from the media or the allegiance from fellow Republican leaders he says he is owed. He boasts about his presidency in superlatives, but confidants privately fret about his suddenly dark moods.

    And some of Trump’s friends fear that the short-tempered president is on an inevitable collision course with White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly.

  68. 68.

    Gin & Tonic

    @satby: OT, but yesterday you asked about my medical appt the other day, but I didn’t revisit the thread until much later. I wrote about it Wed evening; so as not to repeat, you can find that post here. This wasn’t a “new doctor” in the sense that he’ll be treating me from now on, this was a recognized expert whom I was seeing for a second opinion. I don’t really feel the need to see him again.

  70. 70.

    debbie

    @satby:

    That would be great if it worked out, but you have the luxury (so to speak) to sit back and see how it works out. Plus, you’d be able to work and get benefits and then bank the extra funds. Even better, it would be a great way to end your working life, with people you like. Win win in this nutty world, I say!

  73. 73.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Gin & Tonic: I have to say that as someone who suffers from loose bodies in a few joints I am not so optimistic. Which is not to say he’s wrong about any future difficulties they may cause, just that a “wait and see” approach is what’s called for.

  74. 74.

    satby

    @WaterGirl: one year since the move. The two years statement included the previous year of job loss, exchange student hosting (wonderful but consuming) and then my mom’s terminal illness which had me planning to move to Florida, not Indiana. Lotta boomeranging those two years, but it ended up ok (thanks to mom in the end).

  75. 75.

    satby

    @debbie: yeah, if it doen’t require travel I might consider it, though it will wreak havoc with the SS I just started getting ?. But I have been out of the field for 3 years, that’s a lifetime in IT, even though at that point I was a manager, not hands on support. So we’ll see. Not counting any chickens…

  76. 76.

    Gin & Tonic

    @OzarkHillbilly: Well, the loose fragments are not in any joint, they are alongside the radius a couple of inches south of the distal radial-ulnar joint. In that location they’re not on the load-bearing side, and since they are (apparently) still connected to muscle, they’re not going to go anywhere. Load is borne by the main shaft of the radius and the steel plate they installed, so if the shaft is, say, 90% of what it was, then it’s still stronger than the other side because of the reinforcement. What concerned him was that if there was significant “non-union” across the shaft, then *all* load would be borne by the plate, which they really want to avoid because it can fatigue.

    Waiting for someone to read the CT scan I had yesterday to know for sure.

  79. 79.

    Immanentize

    @satby:
    One year ago, my wife and I were getting our son ready to start his Sophomore year, confident Hillary would be President.

    Funny old world….

  80. 80.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Immanentize: Yes. We don’t know what’s around the corner and we treasure what was good and pray for strength to walk through the grief. {{{Many hugs to you and Immp}}}

  81. 81.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Immanentize: I was traveling and missed the ending of part of that story, so never had the opportunity to express my condolences for your loss. I hope you and your son can get to that point Uncle Joe Biden described.

  82. 82.

    Lapassionara

    Good morning everyone. Have any of you seen a Twitter account called realtimewwii? It is tweeting out new reports of the war as if events were happening now. Sept 1 being the day Germany invaded Poland. The mixture of Hitler comments and Trump tweets is illuminating. And, no, I do not follow Trump, but others send his tweets my way.

  83. 83.

    satby

    @Immanentize: and what a year you’ve had! No death in the family is easy to bear, but when an elderly woman with no quality life to look forward to slipped away peacefully my sisters and I could feel that it was a blessing for her and take comfort in that. Knowing Julie isn’t suffering any longer may comfort you a bit, but she went too young. Hard to have comfort in that. Virtual hug to you and the Immp.

  84. 84.

    Immanentize

    @satby: my mom who will be 87 next month travelled with my brother to see J. when she was in the hospital. My mom told Julie that if there was any Justice in the world, she would be able to trade places as she had lived well and long enough. An amazing thing to say.

  86. 86.

    The Moar You Know

    One thing that has changed since Katrina is that now there is awareness that most petowners won’t evacuate without a safe place for their pets.

    @Sab: I’d never consider it. My weird little Golden wouldn’t last two days on his own. We are a pack, a family, and we either all live together or die together, but nobody’s getting left behind.

  88. 88.

    Elizabelle

    @Immanentize: So glad to see you here. Wishing you and Immp the very best. And your mother sounds wonderful.

    Just attended a family funeral/reunion for a 91-year old who’d lived a full life, until dementia and a broken hip really set in at the end. The last of the cousins of his generation. Such a different situation from yours with J.

    Be well, everybody, this Labor Day weekend.

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