This is all sorts of terrifying:
Three hurricanes all in striking distance of the US. If Obama was still President the religious creeps would be saying it was a sign from Jeebus. Now they’ll probably just blame teh gays.
Meanwhile, if you are wondering why Trump sided with the Dems on a short term agreement on increasing the debt limit, this is why:
With Texas still reeling from Hurricane Harvey and another storm barreling toward Florida, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is expected to run out of money by Friday, according to a Senate aide, putting pressure on Congress to provide more funding this week.
As of 10 a.m. Tuesday morning, FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, which pays for the agency’s disaster response and recovery activity, had just $1.01 billion on hand. And of that, just $541 million was “immediately available” for response and recovery efforts related to Hurricane Harvey, according to a spokeswoman for FEMA who asked not to be identified by name.
The $1.01 billion in the fund Tuesday morning is less than half of the $2.14 billion that was there at 9 a.m. last Thursday morning — a spend rate of $9.3 million every hour, or about $155,000 a minute.
I would not be surprised if all this stuff starts to add up to a couple hundred billion by the time this hurricane season is over.
?BillinGlendaleCA
But remember, this has nothing to do with climate change.
Baud
I still say we need to replace Schumer and Pelosi.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Truth be told, I think God is still mad about Obama.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
(*looks towards 2016 Chicago Cubs*) this is all your fault
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): That’s what I said last year when y’all were cheering the Cubs.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
Deity: “Me damn it, Obama, I told you to kick his ass, not let him be sworn in!”
TenguPhule
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
Everyone knows you must always blame the damn Yankees.
And the Patriots.
A Ghost to Most
If there were deities, I would assume that Calypso is really pissed at the southern states.
MJS
I think attributing anything Trump does to anything beyond “X mean to me yesterday. Me do want Y want today” is giving him too much credit. My guess is Trump learned Ryan called the Dem’s proposal “ridiculous”, and that sealed it for Trump.
Mnemosyne
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I’m still trying to get into the timeline where the Cubs lost and Hillary won. ?
Feebog
My sis sent me some pics from BVI. One, a beautiful little beach resort on Jost Van Dyke completely blown away. The second, a hurricane hole on Tortola with scores of sailboats destroyed and sunk. The economy of both the BVI and US VI is going to be devastated.
TopClimber
Mar-el Largo in hurricane path, Trump cuts a deal so he can get out of town. Perhaps he can squeeze in one last round of golf before the sand traps turn into water hazards for who knows how long?
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
(reposted from the three thread)
News from Antigua and Barbuda is grim–Antigua weathered the storm fairly well, given what Irma is, but Barbuda passed through the eye, which was apparently bigger than the entire island. Preliminary reports indicate structural damage is catastrophic, and they are conducting search and rescue operations now, with only one death formally confirmed at this point. The prime minister has stated that if José passes near Barbuda, they will need to evacuate the remaining population, as there’s really no place left to shelter.
The island was completely out of communication once the storm hit–the cell tower–or towers–were broken off, and satellite communication was apparently not possible (it would have been affected during the storm, but perhaps the antenna(s) were damaged as well. The airport runway is apparently blocked by debris but they hope to get relief flights in tomorrow.
The French government is also reporting extensive damage in their islands as well.
Puerto Rico is now in the hot seat. Reports say the eye is missing San Juan, but not by much.
The Guardian has fairly good coverage, and the FTFNYT appears to be making an effort as well.
Be wary of Twitter–I have seen some good sources there, but a rumor can be magnified rapidly when it has no real support. For example, I’ve seen reports of a death toll of 1000 on Barbuda, when there hadn’t been official rescue efforts in place long enough to establish much of anything except “This place has been devastated.”
Apparently there are already fund-raising scams in place for Barbuda, because some people are horrible.
Droppy
This is God telling fundamentalist white evangelical Fox-watching olds, in no uncertain terms, that FDR, who was president when they were born, knew what the hell he was doing and that you have all forgotten what it takes to have a functioning society rather than a cabal of rich assholes running the place. That they all forgot this because Ronald Reagan seemed like such a nice fella is what all of us are paying for now.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne:
Remember that Kinsella story where the Cubs win and Armageddon happens.
dr. bloor
And now imagine that year over year going forward. It’s like Mother Nature has decided we’re going to be on a high deductible health plan.
burnspbesq
If Irma decides to visit Miami, the combined cost of Harvey and Irma is going to get close to a trillion.
Regnad Kcin
@Feebog: Foxy’s Taboo?
chris
Excellent coverage at Weather Underground. https://www.wunderground.com/news/
Showing a 15-20 foot tide surge in the Turks and Caicos/Bahamas! Are any of those islands that high?
Another Scott
It’s probably already been linked (you folks are too fast!), but Evan Hurt’s coverage of the budget/hurricane/debt-ceiling/maybe-even-DACA-agreement is entertaining.
tl;dr – The GOP team wanted 18 months. Chuck and Nancy said, “You’ll get 3 months and like it, and BTW, this is what else we want” and Donnie was, like, “Deal!”
Maybe Trump really is a Clinton plot to destroy the GOP…. >;->
We’ll see what happens, but we still need to fight them every single day.
Fingers crossed for all the people in the path, and those still suffering after Harvey. :-(
Cheers,
Scott.
(“Who has elderly parents in central NC, and even there doesn’t look so great in some of the Windy models…”)
Cheryl Rofer
Too good not to repost from the previous thread.
TenguPhule
@dr. bloor:
With zero actual coverage from doctors.
Gravenstone
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): Worth it man, totally.
Roger Moore
@TopClimber:
He should go there to see Irma firsthand and show Floridians there’s nothing to panic about.
Aleta
Got a feeling that some of them prayerful types (my sister) are hellbent on winning Second Coming Bingo this week.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: maybe Bernie is available to run both chambers. The new story on my social mediaz is that he’s been doing all kinds of looking forward while that scheming bitch Hillary wrote a book about him instead of doing something constructive.
hedgehog mobile
@Feebog: Damn….we have been going to Sandcastle since 2013….
Baud
@Major Major Major Major: I can only assume from the talk on the media and social media that Hillary’s book only talks about Bernie and ignores the general election entirely.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
I’m waiting for the liberal media to tell me again how McConnell is the master of the senate when he can’t even get his own majority to pass a routine budget.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: as a librarian I absolutely advise getting your facts from vague impressions of other people’s opinions they share on Twitter.
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@burnspbesq: IF?! Currently, Irma is around 400 miles across, and the eye about 30 miles across. The Florida peninsula averages 160 miles across. Miami may not get the very worst the storm has to offer, but it would take a major swerve for Miami to avoid serious, damaging contact.
We talk about Wilma, Andrew, Katrina, and Camille, but let’s not forget the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, when we consider what Irma might do.
Also, for those of you wondering why south Floridians aren’t all evacuating, the peninsula itself is around 500 miles long–it would be a long day’s drive in good times, when everyone else wasn’t trying to escape at the same time. Even if you can afford the cost, it’s going to take a long time to get far enough north to make much difference.
mai naem mobile
@Cheryl Rofer: i.thought it would be Jose which would be Dolt45’s personal Katrina. BTW,how come we never hear X is going to be Dolt 45s Katrina like we heard with Obama with every minor anf major issue?
SiubhanDuinne
@Feebog:
Heartbreaking. I hope your sister is safe.
Baud
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Speaking of the liberal media, this was the concluding paragraph in The Atlantic story about this deal.
That’s crowing to them.
Cheryl Rofer
@mai naem mobile: The wall is working and will keep Jose out.
hedgehog mobile
@SiubhanDuinne: Agreed!
Baud
@Major Major Major Major: Should I care about reality or about what everyone is talking about?
efgoldman
@Baud:
Yes
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: What everyone is talking about, of course.
chris
@Cheryl Rofer: Haha! Anyone know the elevation of Palm Beach? ISTR that it wasn’t more than 3 or 4 feet.
ETA Freaking ad is back.
Mike J
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I wish I could remember who came up with the steroid analogy.
Can you with absolute certainty say that a home run hit in the seventh inning at Dodger stadium on June 19th was the result of steroid use? No. If a batter goes from a respectable 25 HR per year to 46, you can make a very strong inference that steroids had something to do with it.
dmsilev
@Roger Moore: Surely his hair is hurricane-proof.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: as a philosopher of mind I invite you to explain the distinction.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@Cheryl Rofer: Unfortunately the current forecast indicates it’ll then pass over Palm Bay and Melbourne as a Category 4, where I live.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Baud: it reminds me of when Ryan et al were having a beer party on the rose garden, taking selfies, high fiving, after voting to take away insurance from 25 million people and the Village was instead outraged that some Dems sang “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Good Bye”
Baud
@Major Major Major Major: You’re the philosopher, Mr. Smarty Pants.
dmsilev
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Can you imagine the screeching if Obama and Speaker Pelosi had gathered the 2009/2010 Democrats for a beer bash to celebrate the passage of the ACA? The ululations would _still_ be reverberating through the stratosphere.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: not really ?
@dmsilev: I thought the beers turned out to have been for something else.
Baud
@dmsilev: Well that would have been appropriate since the Dems weren’t voting to kill people.
Baud
@Major Major Major Major: Can’t trust anything online.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: especially not that psychopath Baud!.
chris
General Kelly is not universally admired. Who knew?
Baud
@Major Major Major Major: That’s sociopath Baud!
efgoldman
@dmsilev:
As often as we see this construction, I think it’s time to retire it.
Every fucking thing Trumplethinskin and the RWNJs do would have been WAY beyond the pale for any Democrat, even if it was completely justified.
Yes, it’s shitty. Yes, it’s not fair. yes, it is high Broderism at its worst. There isn’t a goddamned thing to be done about it; butthurt whining doesn’t help. Move on and work that much harder to get Dems elected.
Arm The Homeless
So looks like we are going to ride out the storm here at home. Spent all day in meetings and on the phone trying to nail down staging areas for the 100 or so necessary employees we will need to manage the possible disaster.
The waiting is the worst. And not a roll of duct tape or D batteries to be found
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@dmsilev: they wouldn’t even let him give a speech after he waged his presidency on the bin laden raid. they all screamed every gop talking point about how it would be inappropriate to give a speech at ground zero and how he was being mean to Dubya by denying him any credit.
Baud
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
@Arm The Homeless:
Stay safe.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: i dunno if I should be trusting a sociopath to assure me he’s not a psychopath.
Ajabu
@Feebog:
Got that right. And St. Croix (our home) is sitll recovering from the loss of our local oil refinery in 2012.
And we’re trying to go back home in the next two years. Oh well, I guess property will once again be cheap…
ETA: I hate this even more because it makes Shitgibbon notice the VI exists as one more place he can fuck with.
Cheryl Rofer
@chris: Palm Beach altitude is 6.89 feet. I was checking the highest point in Florida last night, which is over 300 feet, to see whether the reported storm surges of 20 feet would wash across the state. (Yes, I know, even if it were that low, friction, volume, yatta yatta.)
But a storm surge of 20 feet could be quite nasty along the coast.
Baud
@Major Major Major Major: YOLO.
VOR
@Cheryl Rofer: Per Crooks and Liars, Rush Limbaugh is telling his listeners Irma is a liberal plot. Apparently early notice of hurricanes are not an attempt to save lives, but instead a devious plan to promote climate change. Does he know who the Governor of Florida is?
Cheryl Rofer
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): A lot of Juicers are in Florida. I hope you’re paying attention to the preparations Adam and (I think Betty) have been posting.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: speak for yourself, I’m gonna be an immortal robot.
Baud
@Major Major Major Major: I can see that. You’d be good at it.
Cheryl Rofer
@VOR: That’s scary. I wonder how many people will refuse to prepare or evacuate because of Limbaugh.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: aw, shucks.
Well, I’m off to San Jose, ttfn
SFAW
@Baud:
No.
Despite what efgoldman said.
Arm The Homeless
@Cheryl Rofer: we’ve got hundreds of miles of seawalls, much of which are 30 years, or more, old. I’m not looking forward to the rush of building permits after the storm has moved on.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman: Biden said “It’s a Big Fucking Deal” about ACA, both sides.
mai naem mobile
@chris: I don’t trust Gen Kelly like any of Dolt45’s appointees. One of the DACA article made it sound like he tried to stop Miller and Sessions from talking to Dolt about DACA. It also said he reached out to Congressional leaders to give them a heads up. I just wonder if this is when he reached out to the Dems about this debt ceiling/Harvey deal. Ofcourse it’s Dolt45 so maybe Mar A Lago and his Caribbean property damage is on his mind and part.of the picture.
Mike in NC
When asked his feelings about Hurricane Irma, Trump with typical eloquence said, “Not good, believe me, not good”.
Origuy
The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda took an aerial tour of the island. He plans to evacuate the the island before Jose hits. An interview on Antigua TV.
Added. One infant is reported dead, but no other deaths known. Nearly everyone lives in one town.
schrodingers_cat
@chris: Well, he wants to use DACA a hostage strategy/bargaining chip. We will give you DACA if you cut legal immigration by half and build the wall.
McClatchy (?) News was reporting last week.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@Gravenstone: Maybe.
@?BillinGlendaleCA: You forgot to blame Roger Ailes for dying, as the Grim Reaper’s had to work overtime to balance the books.
And to be perfectly honest, I was one of the people cheering for the Cubs. I sometimes fantasize about a Cubs 2016 loss, but then I realize 1) fuck Chief Wahoo; 2) Cleveland already ended their drought with The Block, they don’t really need the World Series as well; and 3) SO FUCK Chuef Wahoo.
@TenguPhule: Indeed.
Fuck Kyle Shanahan too, while we’re at it.
chris
@Cheryl Rofer: Mar-a-Lago is right on the beach. Any storm surge will surely wash the first floor windows.
chris
@schrodingers_cat: 800,000 bargaining chips. Makes sense, I guess, if you’re the sort of person that eats puppies and worries about white genocide.
Groucho48
@Cheryl Rofer:
Not nearly enough.
rim shot
O. Felix Culpa
@Major Major Major Major:
Wait, you’re a librarian and a philosopher of mind? I genuflect in your general direction.
Steve in the ATL
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
Had a good dinner at Continental Flambe last year–hope it survives.
Oh, and I hope you’re ok, too.
Davebo
With Irma? Figure $300 billion minimum.
Makes “tax reform” kinda hard to square with “I hate federal debt”.
tybee
latest tracks look highly amusing for the SC/GA border.
i think i’ll slither inland a bit to the ‘boro, loveliest village upon the plains east of auburn, and acquire a case of the blues.
chopper
@Cheryl Rofer:
thanks to a lucky break in ocean bathymetry Miami is less prone to storm surge, unlike, say, galveston. however it’s more prone to bigger waves on top of the surge. likewise, the Miami hurricane of ’26 still had a respectable 15 ft or so of storm tide (surge plus tide) and that was a cat 4. also, it looks like the eye is gonna hit or rake Miami at high tide which is going to be another 3 feet on top of the surge. could be almost 20 feet if things are at their worst, worse in the bay. coupled with the low elevation it could be really bad.
Shalimar
@Mike J: That strong inference seems logical, but it really doesn’t track well with history. Examples of hitters who had 75% more home runs in one season than they did any other in their career happen with greater frequency than you would suspect, and most of them were before the steroids era. I’m not great at sorting stats, but a good statistician could go through the data and see if it has been happening more often the last 30 years or so than earlier.
Mike G
What poetic justice if Mar-A-Lago is destroyed by Jose.
J R in WV
@chris:
No!
We visited the Turks and Caicos, wonderful small native run lodge, called me back to be sure I understood there was no casino nor nightclub, just the beach and the ocean, 50 feet from our door. I don’t know where the residents could have sheltered, really. Maybe there’s a really solid concrete building with no windows?
Looking very bad for the Islanders!
J R in WV
I’m in moderation for using the forbidden word about a pastime with chance involved. arg
J R in WV
@chris:
Repeated without offensive word:
No! They’re low lying coral limestone outcrops. They use reinforced concrete to build with is the only saving grace.
We visited the Turks and Caicos, wonderful small native run lodge, called me back to be sure I understood there was no casino nor nightclub, just the beach and the ocean, 50 feet from our door. It was wonderful, quiet, we took many books, and swapped with those in the hotel’s library when we ran out.
I don’t know where the residents could have sheltered, really. Maybe there’s a really solid concrete building with no windows?
Looking very bad for the Islanders!
Cermet
Still time for the storm to head out to sea and miss the US but not counting on it – while, nice if tRmps over-blown resort gets flatten, the poor people of Florida deserve better – living near the ocean even w/o AGW is risky. Soon, thanks to AGW, it will be suicidal.