Took some pictures of the house today because it was so pretty out:
Also, look what finally decided to bloom:
Got a bunch of weeding that needs to be done, and I need to pull that big green thing up that was one of the many things to sprout from the packet of wildflower seeds I sprinkled in that bed, and man did it take root and grow.
What are you all up to?
JMG
Just finished doing the dishes after dinner (ratatouille, bread, cheese). College football games aren’t grabbing me. Looks like early bedtime.
BGinCHI
Saturday night’s all right for fighting, but I just made chicken quesadillas so we’re just gonna eat instead.
Hope all the NC and SC peeps are doing OK.
Luthe
That’s a rude thing to say about your willow tree.
And Hatteras Island is allowing visitors to enter as of 3pm tomorrow, so you may want to call your rental company about the beach house.
raven
Scouting
The Midnight Lurker
I spent the day with Beto! I got some great shots. Now… if I can just figure out how to post them.
cope
Cooked up ribs, Alton Brown’s sweet corn bread pudding, home made chicken tenders, mac and cheese and a nice tossed green salad for the daughter and her family and my wife’s sister. Now exhausted, watching a chic flick with mrs. cope (too embarrassed to name it). Probably going to heat up some leftovers in a bit.
Watched the Reds beat Spurs this morning (yah!) and Hamilton win another pole (boo), looking forward to the race tomorrow. Life is (mostly) good.
SiubhanDuinne, Badass Jackal
I have to call my sister, and that’s always a time-consuming undertaking, but depending on what direction the thread goes, I may come back in a bit to consult Jackal Hive-Mind about something. Or might leave it until later.
Schlemazel
Nice place JC! Good to see the rains have not washed it away
Meanwhile, in real Murica:
raven
@The Midnight Lurker: You got a flickr account?
Schlemazel
@Schlemazel:
John Cole
@Luthe: They are allowing people in, but my rental company isn’t even answering the phones until tomorrow, so there is no idea what condition it is in, and they need an extra day to clean it because it was not cleaned when the last people in there evacuated, and oh btw the entire island is still in a state of emergency and swimming in the ocean is prohibited.
This vacation is an ex parrot.
Patricia Kayden
@raven: Boy Scout troop?
Brendan in NC
Still waiting for Florence here in Charlotte. Got all the hatches battened; but it’s acting like a normal rainy day here. Now that I’ve said that, it’s probably going to start
tybee
@cope: i like watching chick flics with what’ser’name. which one was it?
Patricia Kayden
@Schlemazel: Not trying to sound mean but wth is wrong with them? They’re putting the lives of rescuers at risk too.
Amir Khalid
I put off restringing The Girl yesterday because I was tired and sleepy. And because, even at my best, I don’t exactly feel confident handling 0.009″ diameter steel wire. But I need to do it, and to hope that I’ll get better at string bends without breaking any more strings.
raven
@Patricia Kayden: Mizzou
JPL
@John Cole: Your house and home is lovely. Thurston probably jinxed your vacation plans in order to keep you put. It could have been Rosie though.
TaMara (HFG)
The house looks lovely. The flowers are magnificent.
Scout’s in heat. Wearing a diaper. And as restless as a teenager just before prom night. Gonna be a long few weeks.
The good news is she won’t be doing this when I’m on vaca next month, and I can have her spayed just after her birthday.
Brachiator
Had a frantic Friday, so I am doing as little as possible today. I watched the movie Blockers, which was about to expire in my video rental queue. Funny and charming.
Parents find out that their three daughters, friends since elementary school, have each decided to have sex with their boyfriends on Prom Night. The parents try to cock block, and hilarity ensues. Great cast, especially John Cena and Leslie Mann among the adults.
TaMara (HFG)
@The Midnight Lurker: Why don’t you send them to me so I can drool, I mean post them for you later tonight.
whats4dinnersolutions (at) live (dot) com
chris
Amazed again by how strong cats can be. They think Skippy was picked up by an owl and then dropped from height but somehow made it home, wounded and broken, 10 days later. We’re a tough and loyal bunch here in Nova Scotia.
(Disclaimer: I don’t know these people. It’s a great and touching story, the gofundme is up to you.)
Your house looks great, John Cole.
Schlemazel
@Patricia Kayden:
Morons. I sincerely think the only way this ends is if emergency services states ahead of time they will perform no rescues until the all clear is given. Every time there is an event like this some number of people die because they refuse to believe it can happen to them.
TaMara (HFG)
@Brachiator: The juxtapostion of your comment with my first comment is hysterical!
CaseyL
My new job has me working Saturdays, though not a full 8 hours, which is nice. So I did that, and am now home relaxing. I have to get used to my “weekends” being Sunday-Monday now!
Still trying to figure out why my deep glass firings are sprouting bubbles. My latest theory is that I don’t line the dam mold with fire paper (a thick, soft material). Without fire paper, the glass has no soft place to expand against but instead goes bang up against the hard walls of the mold, where it presumably curls and flows like an ocean wave hitting rocks. That would cause any number of discontinuities which could lead to bubbles. So I’ll try a test piece with fire paper and see how that goes.
J R in WV
@Brachiator:
OMG, sex on Prom night?!?!?! How terrible, those poor parents didn’t instill enough fear of nasty ol’ sex in those daughters!!
I can see it being funny, but the messages are all so wrong… so, wrong!
Gelfling 545
@Patricia Kayden: Some thoughts on it.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/dont-condemn-people-who-dont-evacuate-for-hurricane-florence/
Brachiator
@Patricia Kayden:
People aren’t good at evaluating risk. Some think that the authorities are always over cautious. Others severely over-estimate their ability to deal with shit when it gets real.
We have this same problem in California during brush fires.
Patricia Kayden
@raven: Ok. Football.
@Schlemazel: I remember as a child when our family had to stay in a church basement for a few days because our community was evacuated after a train derailed. I don’t recall my parents hesitating or fussing about leaving. I don’t understand the desire to “sit out” dangerous situations over which you have no control. Just be an adult and do the right thing. Sigh.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
Just saw this in Mother Jones re that Mark Judge guy who’s trying to help a fellow conservative classmate from a tony all-male private prep school onto the Supreme Court:
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/09/brett-kavanaugh-mark-judge-high-school-drunk-allegation-alcohol/>
raven
TaMara (HFG)
@Patricia Kayden: You know, some people don’t have transportation or the money to evacuate. That was one of the takeaways from Katrina.
Brendan in NC
@Patricia Kayden: they all think they can handle it…my former boss moved to Sugarloaf Key a few years ago. Was going to “ride out” Hurricane Irma in a first responder friends hurricane fortified house – along with 8-10 others.
First responder went to work; and called him – told him and everyone else to get the hell out of Florida ASAP.
He did, and after seeing the damage his house sustained; has sworn to be the first one to leave if it happens again…
schrodingers_cat
@Chacal Charles Calthrop: Link is broken.
hedgehog the occasional commentere
Mellow day here. Laundry, grocery shopping, watched Iowa State lose to Oklahoma, wrote postcards to voters. Currently waiting for the Rockies game to start.
zhena gogolia
@The Midnight Lurker:
What do you think his chances are?
Amir Khalid
@cope:
It was good to see Liverpool win at Wembley, even if it was only a league match against Spurs. Still, a perfect record over the first five matches wasn’t enough for them to remain top of the Table. Chelsea have a perfect record too, and they beat Cardiff 4-1. (Wembley is England’s national stadium. Tottenham Hotspur are renting it only because the renovations at their own White Hart Lane venue recently failed a safety inspection and need redoing. Does America have an equivalent national sportsball venue?)
Brachiator
@J R in WV:
The parents fail spectacularly, and the kids are all right. But compassion and understanding are extended to both groups.
One father is pro sex, and the reason he agreed to go on the cock blocking quest has an interesting twist to it.
The movie also complies with the wisdom laid down by an old Hollywood mogul. “Movies are fun stories. If you want to send somebody a message, use Western Union.”
Mike in NC
Cell phone reception is spotty right now. Wife has been texting neighbors who elected not to evacuate. One said we have a tree down on our property but it isn’t blocking the street. She’ll send a photo when the rain stops.
Litlebritdifrnt
NC is suffering badly. As I posted in the thread downstairs. My former home is a goner. As is my neighbor’s. This is only going to get worse. They are predicting that the worst flooding won’t happen until Tuesday. It is going to be absolutely tragic.
zhena gogolia
@TaMara (HFG):
Really! I’d love to see Scout in her diaper.
raven
@Mike in NC: My friend in New Bern finally posted that she was ok.
Patricia Kayden
@Gelfling 545: Okay, got it. It’s pretty bad if privileged means that you obey orders to leave and thus save your life. What a shame.
raven
@Patricia Kayden: You really don’t get it do you?
Brachiator
@TaMara (HFG):
Just saw it! Fun bit of serendipity.
debbie
My SC friend in Florence had an attack of good sense and popped up in Maryland.
Schlemazel
@TaMara (HFG):
There is not doubt agencies needs to do more to get people out of harms way. The media had a pretty decent parade of people who were quiet capable of evacuation but choosing not to. That is just gambling.
eemom
@Patricia Kayden:
From a FB post shared by a friend:
Gwen Frisbie-Fulton
Yesterday at 6:46 PM ·
Two nights ago I called Alyeesha — a friend of a friend who had stayed at my house a few years ago when she was escaping a bad relationship. She lives Down East, back in her hometown in Carteret County, in a small one-room house that was her grandma’s sharecropping cabin. She rents the cabin from the man who now owns the land; it is not hers. I’ve been there once. She had a mattress on the floor, a sofa from a Rent-a-Center, and a picture of her grandmother on the wall. I wanted to let her know that if she was evacuating from the hurricane, there was a sofa waiting for her here.
“Naw, I’m going to ride it out,” she said.
Everyone I know Down East and on the shore is riding it out. For a few it’s bravado, but for most of them, it’s… it’s just that they can’t go. There aren’t enough seats in the car, or there is no car, or the car is busted. There are too many babies or too many old folks. There are jobs that won’t be held for them if they can’t make it back in a few days; there are paychecks that haven’t yet cleared; there are food stamps that ran out last week. And there isn’t enough money in anyone’s damn bank account.
But you know, we all love a good hurricane. We fetishize storms. We are glued to our televisions and we are refreshing our screens. We talk about the wind speed, we marvel at the tattered piers. It’s almost like we want it. Truth is, I think Alyeesha and all my friends are going to be just fine during this hurricane. After all, as terrifying as it is, we know it’s not Florence that is wreaking havoc on North Carolina. It’s everything that comes later; it’s everything after the storm; it’s everything that was before.
We know that it is the slow seep of the water back down from the mountains, spreading itself out of its riverbed path, breaking itself out the creeks and cricks, rushing itself off the pavement of the cities and going Down East. It’s water swallowing up crops and homes and pigs — we know this slow seep and we know that it is not just water; we know it is poverty.
The hurricane is the drama, the excitement that we need. We gather bottled water, toilet paper, snacks. It’s something we can do, something we can prepare for. We like the idea of bracing ourselves against wind; we feel enraptured, intoxicated, instinctual, alive. Our lives can be so mundane. So we watch, we watch, we watch. We gorge on hurricanes.
But the flood that we know is coming is something to look away from; something we try not to speak of. It is smeared red clay up living room walls. It’s stalled out Buicks getting their last rust. It’s somebody’s work tools sinking into the river. It’s humid air plastering an old Myrtle Beach t-shirt onto a body as it shovels filthy toys into trash bags. It is mud and muck and poverty. And we know it is coming. It is all very predictable. And we will look away.
Poverty has always been a flood and not a hurricane. It’s always been a slow rolling disaster, with muddy gray water under an incongruent bright blue sky. It’s always been a slow build of mold between generations, of people making do with babies in faded red milk crates being floated on mattresses down city streets. Look away.
Poverty is slow. It’s a looming light bill and a long wait on child support. It’s the uncomfortable plastic chairs at DSS and the caseworkers who don’t make eye contact. It’s the ten months of pregnancy with no insurance and lying to the doctor about the cramps because you can’t afford a referral. It’s the long wait in jail because you can’t afford bail and long Christmas days when you can’t afford presents. It’s the long nights with the heat out and the long calls trying to reach the landlord. It’s the hours in detention after your own boss at the meat processing plant calls immigration on you and the long stare you give him while he hires your cousin for less money under the table. Sometimes poverty is even the long last minutes trying to get through the locked door at the Hamlet Chicken Plant. So we look away.
Poverty is predictable. It’s the predictability of underfunded schools and outdated textbooks. It’s the predictability of an entire two generations of fathers and mothers being locked up and their left-behind children staring cold-eyed and speaking tight-lipped during the Pledge at school. It’s the predictability of legislators turning their heads and hog waste and coal ash breaching levees. It’s the predictability that after the storm we will arrest the looters who spent their last dollars on gas when prices surged up 50 cents before the storm. The predictability of all this makes us look like fools, like forty-something men wanting twenty-something wives. And we are embarrassed by it all. We will look away and not say a thing.
We don’t have to look because we know where the flood waters will go. They will follow a slow, predictable path. We know who lives in low lying areas, we know what neighborhoods are south of the tracks. From Appalachia down, every town has Hillers and Creekers and floodplains read like economic and racial maps.
Alyeesha has the grit to make it through the storm, but after the winds pass and the bottled water gets loaded back up, she knows that people’s attention will just move on. Jim Cantore does not come for poverty.
Alyeesha’s little house may be flooded out, she may lose everything. There is no insurance company to call; her landlord may just tell her he can’t do nothing, just move along. Her friend who drives her to work may not be able to come to get her, she may lose her job. She will be left standing in the still waters of America, brown water on her brown legs, on land that was not her grandmothers and is not hers, with no place but my sofa to go.
But that’s the predictable slow drip of poverty. All your life you are just watching the water rise, knowing no one is coming to get you: after all they told you to get out.
TaMara (HFG)
@zhena gogolia: Nope, her dignity is my priority. ;-)
Ben Cisco
Charlotte’s getting wet – flooding a possibility in my little corner. One eye on Bama – Ole Miss and the other on the weather.
Duane
@raven: Probably not much difference between a boy scout troop and Missouri’s football team. Lots of offensive weapons, can’t imagine they beat Georgia.
frosty
Attended a meet’n’greet this afternoon with Jess King, running for Congress in newly ungerrymandered PA-11. I’m impressed, progressive but practical, e.g. favors Medicare for all but understands that changing something affecting 17% of the economy has to be incremental. Also mentioned enforcing anti-trust to help small business. Funding is all small donors, being spent on grassroots, not ads.
I signed up for a month of Sundays. :-)
Brachiator
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Trump might say that this doesn’t count since this is not the initial onslaught.
Politics aside, I hope that everyone hangs on as best they can. Whenever things settle, rebuilding and recovery can begin.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@schrodingers_cat: sorry, not quite sure how to do this on a mobile. Anyhow the gist is in 1997 Kavanaugh’s classmate wrote a tell-all recovering-alcoholic memoir which completely contradicts everything he’s saying now.
Duane
John put some decorative rocks in those beds and it will really dress up the front. Cost more but lasts forever.
cope
@tybee: Shhh…don’t tell anybody but it was “Legally Blonde 2”.
raven
@Duane: Everyone here is all nervous because Lock really came into his own against us even though we won. The 11am kickoff in Columbia should benefit the Dawgs.
JoyceH
I went to the drug store and harrumphed about the fact that the place was already stuffed full of Halloween merchandise. Then I bought a witch hat for my dog.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@The Midnight Lurker:
Send them to a front-pager as attachments to an e-mail. Commenters cannot post photographs directly to the site. That way lies madness.
Front-pagers’ addresses under “Quick Links” at the top.
Soprano2
Attending the first symphony concert of the season. So far it’s nice.
chris
@Chacal Charles Calthrop: Here you go.
raven
@Steeplejack (tablet): Sure we can. Sunrise fishing.
John Cole
@Litlebritdifrnt: It’s awful.
John Cole
@The Midnight Lurker: send them to me.
schrodingers_cat
@Chacal Charles Calthrop:It works if you delete the stuff after the last slash.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/09/brett-kavanaugh-mark-judge-high-school-drunk-allegation-alcohol/
opiejeanne
We have RAIN in the PNW and it’s a good thing. So, our house sitter probably won’t have to water the garden while we’re gone to my HS reunion in a couple of weeks.
Just finished writing nearly 2200 words for a “chapter” of my book and it looks pretty good. I want to vent about a beta reader not paying attention or thinking about what they’ve just read to understand who is speaking, but I won’t.
Gelfling 545
@Patricia Kayden: Priveleged means you have the means to do so. You have somewhere to go and are physically able to get there.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Patricia Kayden:
No doubt there are a lot of idiots, but there are also probably some number of people with no easy means of transportation and little or no money for expenses. You know, poverty.
ljt
House and yard look beautiful. Made it home to Edisto this afternoon–looks like we’re in for a couple of rainy days, but not much more, thankfully. Holding all those still in harm’s way in my heart.
Brachiator
@eemom:
The poor often get hit by a double whammy. They have problems getting out, and they often live in areas that will get hit the hardest. From a Quartz story.
However, church and other community groups have helped. Ultimately, it’s a matter of logistics. And getting out as many people as possible may make it a little easier to help those who remain.
raven
@ljt: From where?
ljt
@raven: Went to my Dad’s in Asheville. Looks like they’ll actually be getting more rain than we will. We made it home ahead of the worst of the rain that was pushing west today. Very lucky all around.
TaMara (HFG)
@John Cole: Hey back off there big guy, I have dibs on the eye-candy photos. ;-)
zhena gogolia
So we’ll have two sexual harassers on the Supreme Court and one in the White House.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@schrodingers_cat: thanks to you & to Chris!
Bruuuuce
@schrodingers_cat: : Copy the link into your browser, then delete “/>” before hitting Enter. That gets you there.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Chacal Charles Calthrop:
Fixed link: Kavenaugh’s high school friend.
raven
@ljt: Our niece came down from there yesterday, spent the day doing some kind of fabric project and went back this evening. Have I asked you if you’ve seen Daughters of the Dust? We watched it for a bit last night just long enough for them to list the Gullah and Geechee Islands.
Duane
@raven: Georgia’s win against South Carolina was impressive. When it comes to Mizzou I don’t get my hopes too high. After 50 years, you learn.
StringOnAStick
Our pair of female kittens are officially 1 year old this week. We leave for Patagonia this Thursday, and I’m thankful for our wonderful pet sitter.
We likely won’t have much internet access, which is both scary and precious. I wonder what more will happen while we are gone? Spanish speaking Juicers: is the proper way for a female to say “I weep for my country” lloras por me pais?
raven
@ljt: Also, do you know the guy at Fontaine Charters, Jimmy Skinner? I went out with him and thought he was a really nice fellow.
eemom
Another thing that ought to resonate with folks here is that the shelters that exist to evacuate to often don’t allow animals. Would you evacuate and leave your doggie or kitty behind? I wouldn’t.
raven
@Duane: Remember their receiver named Shorthose?
raven
@eemom: You see where the cajun navy saved 100 dogs and cats today?
Ninedragonspot
@Soprano2: what’s on the program?
Duane
@Soprano2: I heard a lady from the symphony on our local hate-radio Friday promoting the season. Why they would associate with people that promote policies and politicians who would eliminate the public funding our arts puzzled me.
The Midnight Lurker
Aggg! I’m trying to load these Beto shots to John, but the front pager thing won’t let me. I’m busted! I don’t know anything about computers, guys!
ljt
@raven: @raven: Have been meaning to watch Daughters of the Dust, but haven’t yet. I’ve seen some local Gullah women speak at various functions–fascinating stories and culture. Have not met Jimmy, but I’ve heard of him.
Tenar Arha
I went to an afternoon matinee at the mall because I also had to exchange a pair of shoes that pinched.
I’ve got no interest in another Predator film rn. Seen almost everything out before this weekend that I wanted to see already, so I went to A Simple Favor which has some great acting & has maximum clever use of the mostly white suburban setting to increase the everybody is watching & gossiping about everyone else to up the mystery/thriller atmosphere. Solid B to B+ movie.
chris
@The Midnight Lurker: How many are you trying to load? Try no more than two at a time and don’t forget Tamara!
The Midnight Lurker
Okay… you guys are going to love this! I sent the photos to the pet calendar address.
chrisanthemama
@eemom: Well-said, and thanks to your FB friend who wrote this.
raven
@ljt: It’s on netflix.
debbie
@eemom:
I’m not a pet owner but this documentary about Katrina survivors trying to find their pets was heartbreaking. Some of the rescuers were heartless.
TomatoQueen
Watched TOON lose to Arse (no surprise really), then Watford to ManU. Then much reposting of rescue posts re small animals in Florence areas, Carteret Cty in particular, but as and when. Fosters and transport will be needed continuously. Quite infuriated by story of no-show for transport in Vermont from transporter who had driven from SC, no response to phone messages either, reposting reposting. Flooding continues. Crowdsource dot com.
Bill Arnold
I was pleased to see this opinion piece by Bret Stephens (2018/09/14, NYTimes). (Not snark!)
The People’s Republic of Cruelty
He does not mention Christians (protestants/Catholics) until halfway through the piece; the focus is on the the Muslim population (majority) in the Xinjiang Uighur region. (Well, that and faith vs authoritarian governments that overindulge in their desires for control.) Worth a look IMO for understanding how center-right conservatives can be reached intellectually (and probably vv for centrist progressives and center-left conservatives. And others.)
…
Read it, though. The snips above do not capture all the thoughts.
Tenar Arha
@Tenar Arha: Addendum:
I didn’t decide to see it until I read this in Rolling Stone:
Litlebritdifrnt
@eemom: That made me cry, because it is so true. We just got word that the Lumber Dam just breached. That means Fair Bluff is gone. Fair Bluff a quaint southern town on the border of South Carolina, of the Tobacco Festival and the Tobacco Queen. Of the Diner that everyone went to. Of the local store. The town will now be gone because after all of the other hurricanes that flooded it, it just can’t recover again. An entire town is going to be gone. Think about that. I am hurting right now even though I am on the other side of the Atlantic.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@StringOnAStick: It would be “lloro” not “lloras” but I’m not sure about the preposition. Looking at translations of other “weep for” examples I think it might be “Lloro a mi pais”
Bill Arnold
Bret also points at (among other recent pieces in the Atlantic) an interesting piece by Yuval Noah Harari[0]:
Why Technology Favors Tyranny
Harari is a bright guy, with a quite decent (not perfect IMO) eye for possible futures and an engaging writing style. Seriously worth a look. Small snip:
[0] I liked Homo Deus. (2016) Argued with it a lot, of course. :)
Ladyraxterinok
@eemom: Thank you for posting.
Martin
The boy and I drove up to Vandenberg in the wee hours to see the last Delta II launch. It was foggy, but still worth it.
We’ll probably go up and see one of the Oct/Nov SpaceX launch/landings.
rikyrah
Just finished Smokey and the Bandit.
Hadn’t watched it in a long time.
1. It was an movie length ad for the Trans-Am
2. NOBODY had seat belts!??
Still a lot of fun.
RIP Burt Reynolds ??
Steeplejack (tablet)
@The Midnight Lurker:
Just send a regular e-mail to TaMara at the address she gave you above and attach the photographs as—oh, yeah—attachments. Easy to do in Outlook, Gmail, whatever.
TaMara (HFG)
@The Midnight Lurker: See comment 21. That has my direct email address, you can do a regular attachment to that, if you want to.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@Steeplejack (tablet): thanks! (And the more everyone helps, the more likely people’ll See it…)
Patricia Kayden
@eemom: No, I certainly wouldn’t leave my pets. Anywhere I go, they go too.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
I think it would be “Lloro por mi país.”
Ladyraxterinok
@eemom: This is by Gwen Frisbie-Fulton and was posted at medium.com. I searched to find the article because I thought it was so impressive. The author has an interesting background.
Patricia Kayden
@eemom: Powerful post. Paints a dire picture of why some people stay in dangerous situations.
The Midnight Lurker
I just sent some more. Hopefully Mr. Cole can get them from the pet calendar email and over to the site. I’ve got a Mac, so all I know how to do is drag and drop. Sorry.
Had a great stopover. Huge crowd. Maxed out the little patio bar a hour before showtime. Cops said two grand easily. People were lining the fences, many with signs.
I was hot. Humid too. But the show came off without a single hitch and on time. A couple of down ballot candidates spoke first, but when Beto took to the stage, the crowd was electric.
He gave a great speech, pausing once in the middle when EMS showed up because some ol’ geezer fainted. He wanted to make sure the guy was okay before he continued.
He sweated so much on stage. Right through his shirt. Dripping off his chin. But he never missed a beat. Totally positive message. Never said a word about Trump personally, but ripped the Republicans a new one when it came to healthcare, income inequality, reunification of immigrant children with their parents. And he decried the cost to the taxpayers of this fiasco. Nothing negative about the ‘other candidate in the race’. He let the crowd handle that.
Lots of applause and cheers at the end. And the guy is completely genuine. He’s the same guy in person that you see on television. You can’t help but love the guy.
Sermon over. Now it is time to pass the hat.
https://betofortexas.com/
Yeah, I can’t do links either cause I’m old and I suck.
DONATE NOW! We’re still 3.5 points down. Cough it up, juicers!
rikyrah
@eemom:
That was powerful ??
Amir Khalid
@TomatoQueen:
I suspect that there’s a two-fold problem at Newcastle: (1) The owner sees the first-team manager’s popularity with fans as a challenge to his authority, and is trying to fire the manager. (2) The manager is trying to build a competitive top-flight football team with needlessly limited resources (see problem (1)) and is not succeeding.
TriassicSands
@StringOnAStick:
I’m far from fluent, but if you want to say “I weep” then the verb would be “lloro” — with “o” ending designates first person, singular. Lloras is for “you” (singular).
TriassicSands
@TriassicSands:
Hmm. No way to edit. — with the “o” designating…”
The Midnight Lurker
And I have to express a little guilt at having such a great day when some juicers (and others) out there are in peril. Good luck and Godspeed to each and everyone.
eemom
@Ladyraxterinok:
I thought the same. To be clear, I don’t know the lady myself; the piece was reposted by another FB friend. But yes, she does seem to be some kind of writer-angel on earth.
Ken
@JoyceH:
But they have to start now, since Halloween needs to be off the shelves by October 15 to make way for the Thanksgiving stuff, which got pushed back because the Christmas merchandise goes out on November 1.
Lapassionara
@eemom: Thank you. Needs to be said over and over.
Try to imagine living your life on a cash basis. No credit, no where. You have to pay the rent in cash, the utilities bill in cash, and you go around making those payments just after your meager SS check gets to your mailbox. Or whatever payment you have. With what is left, you buy some food. This is what you have for an entire month. Then imagine you are told that a storm is coming, and you should leave the place you live in, to go where?
Try to imagine living your life on a cash basis.
NotMax
At long last, feeling more than one-third awake after the most recent nap. Past three days and nights have provided sleep with scarce little feeling afterward of being rested.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Yutsano
Doctored up a frozen pizza for dinner, now just relaxing until I have to rotate clothes to the dryer. Some got a nice mouldng in storage so trying to see if I can fix that.
Also: looks like the kicker at LSU is getting laid tonight.
TomatoQueen
@Amir Khalid: I agree with 2) certainly, and would add that the effort conflicts directly with constant pressure from the owner to sign a new contract–no manager, from complete bonehead to Guardiola would tolerate another round of the crap Ashley gives. Your (1) I think is very much at the heart of Ashley’s shenanigans, and to some extent has always been an issue, inasmuch as TOONsters will always give a new manager at least some love until results warrant otherwise. But Rafa is the One True Love that’s been missing from TOON since Sir Bobby, and I think Ashley just can’t stand it that the three-legged stool, manager, fans, players, means the owner needs to keep in the background. Every other owner has this figured out, why not TOON? Hell when Ashley rescued the club fans were quite willing to allow him in and be friendly, but that eventually ended with the sacking of Chrissy Hughton (not everyone loved him but he’s a gentleman and was hard done-by), and there just is no love tween the fans and Ashley. How to get him to do the honest decent thing and sell, tho’….
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: there is a thread at the link, I would have added with an edit button
and Stephen King is warning Collins that he’ll remember her vote.
I don’t know how much money King has, but if Collins’ warchest is just over a million dollars, I imagine King could do some damage, with money and creating bad press
ljt
@raven: Been in the queue, just haven’t been able to convince anyone to watch with me ;-)
Another Scott
@eemom: Thanks for posting that. It’s all true.
Fingers crossed. :-(
Relatedly, a repost – Dean Baker at CEPR:
John 2.0
Spent the day pumping out the lower level of the house to prevent water damage from Flo. Bought some hydraulic cement to try to plug the leaks in the back step, where the water was backing up into the house.
I guess I’ll have to get up ever 2 hours to run the shop vac to prevent more flooding.
And I’ve got three more days of this. Wheeeeeee!
Another Scott
Grumble, grumble. The blockquote was supposed to end just after the […]
Sorry.
Cheers,
Scott.
The Midnight Lurker
@TaMara (HFG): I just sent you and John all my good (personally selected by Mrs. Lurker) shots from the rally. Sorry it took so long. I hadn’t read through all the comments.
StringOnAStick
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: @TriassicSands: Ah, thanks; I am having trouble with applying gender to the wrong thing instead of just treating llorar as a verb. There’s a song by a Colombian group we like (Monsuire Perine) where the chorus is “llore; llore”, that just plain haunts me.
ljt
@eemom: @Litlebritdifrnt: ?
Mike in NC
Local governments made several area high schools available as public storm shelters. Many were billed as ‘pet friendly’ but we opted to stay with a friend despite the long drive. The idea of living in a high school gym for a week or longer was just too depressing to contemplate. Brunswick County (NC) and Horry County (SC) will be without power for a week or longer.
Somebody advise Fat Bastard that we don’t want him to come down here to throw rolls of paper towels and brag about what a A++ job his criminal administration is doing.
Patricia Kayden
@Mike in NC: Glad to hear that you made it out safely. What an ordeal. Hopefully, you’ll be able to return home soon.
Ruckus
@Lapassionara:
My life is a cash basis. Has been for the last 12 yrs.
But I make enough to live on decently. But I have no credit cards, no line of credit. It isn’t the cash basis that is the problem, it’s as you say the amount of cash isn’t sufficient for living let alone having any extra to put away for the future or emergences. When I was unemployed during the recession, I had to think before buying anything. Every day is a math lesson. Do I have enough for dinner, or is this a hunger day. What if something goes wrong. I had a friend who made living under a roof possible, otherwise I’d have been living on the street. And I didn’t have it bad, no kids to clothe and feed. And it was only a year till I found a job. Do that for years on end and an emergency comes up? Every day is an emergency after a while of poverty, and getting out gets harder and harder as time goes on.
Major Major Major Major
So who wants to play Minecraft?
Mary G
@eemom: That is freaking amazing, and sad. It’s true. Exactly what happened to Puerto Rico, because it’s far away and I am convinced that the administration kept the press out by hook or by crook. Everyone who knew what was really going on was too busy trying to stay alive to publicize it.
Bill Arnold
That’s some good writing. (Original link (as Ladyraxterinok notes) just to give author credit: Slow Drip: Hurricanes, Floods and Poverty )
Another similar piece, by John Scalzi plus a follow on:
Being Poor – John Scalzi’s Whatever (2005)
“Being Poor,” Ten Years On (2015)
From the later,
I recall a friend (who had grown up lower middle class) explaining to me that a lot of people couldn’t evacuate Katrina because even if they did have a car, it wouldn’t survive stop and go traffic for hours; it could go maybe 5 miles if they were lucky.) Felt ashamed for not realizing this.
Bill Arnold
@Bill Arnold: Resurrect edit, please?!? (later -> latter)
Duane
@raven: The Shorthose is what Missouri is about to get in this game. Lock can make or break his Heisman chances. Edit: What a break!
Bess
@Another Scott:
I suspect the owner of the Washington Post does care about getting millions of people back on their feet and spending money.
Bezos owns Amazon as well as the WP.
Calouste
@Another Scott:
The author misses that the “we” and “we” and “our” don’t refer to the same group of people. It’s should read from the view of the elite:
The whole “we” is just used by the elites to con the poor.
Litlebritdifrnt
@ljt: I suppose I am being morose because everyone seems so chipper here. Meanwhile people I know and love are losing their homes, everything they own, their towns and everything in them, and yet no one seems to care. I am 3K miles away and I am sat here crying because the people I love are losing everything, and yet you guys over there are yammering away about video games. I just don’t know how to handle this and yet you all seem fine with it. What am I missing?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
and Daddy still likes Jared better
Matthew Yglesias @ mattyglesias
Steeplejack (tablet)
@StringOnAStick:
Llore (no accent) would be the “command” form of the verb, as in “Cry, you devil!” Lloré (with an accent) is the first-person past tense, as in “I cried yesterday.”
debit
@Litlebritdifrnt: What would you have us do? I’m in Minnesota. How can I help?
eemom
@Litlebritdifrnt:
To deepen the morosity — these here are the GOOD folks.
NYT last week had a featured article on The Plaza Hotel: Does it REALLY deserve the title of most luxurious hotel in the world?? I mean, the writer had to ask TWICE to get the right vintage of Dom Perignon….
I hate this lying hypocritical shitsack of a country. Hate, hate, HATE it.
debit
@Litlebritdifrnt: Just gonna add, I’m not fine with it, but I’m thousands of miles away. Again, what would you have me do?
The Midnight Lurker
@Litlebritdifrnt: You’re not missing anything. People process things differently. I’m sitting here, all fat and happy with myself over the great turnout we had for Beto O’Roarke today, but I’m also feeling guilty that I had such a great day while other lost everything.
I survived a tornado as a child. I had an apartment burn down – lost everything. No insurance. I narrowly escaped being crushed to death in the 94′ earthquake in Los Angeles. And I drove down to New Orleans after Katrina to help with the relief effort. Nothing bad happened to me that time and yet, those are the memories that my nightmares are woven from.
Years ago, I was in a small town hospital after an old friend there had a heart attack. On one side of the waiting room, this group of people had a baby born. It was a little early, so everyone was on pins and needles until the Doc came out and said the baby and mother were fine. Everybody started laughing and cheering.
On the other side, there was another group of people whose father/grandfather had just passed. They were in mourning. It wasn’t a big room, and both groups kept eyeballing each other as if to say, “Can’t you see what’s going on here?”
You’re not missing anything. We’re all hurting in our own way.
Lizzy L
I had cataract surgery yesterday. Before surgery, I could not see very much out of my right eye. Today, I can see everything. I am so grateful.
ljt
@Litlebritdifrnt: I think in some sense there is relief that the devastation (so far) has been so much less than originally predicted. It is absolutely heartbreaking for those communities impacted, but since it is only small fraction (again, so far) of what was originally anticipated, there is a sense of having dodged a bullet. I was fully expecting the obliteration of the Outer Banks, and potential loss of my own home. I think we’ve all become so numb to devastating news that we can only absorb so much in a day. I don’t think folks here are ‘chipper’. I think we’re just trying to cope under the deluge of natural disaster and stupid-fucking-human news.
Bill Arnold
@eemom:
I love this country. Specifically, I love the heterogeneity that vigorously wriggles free of norms and homogenizing influences. We lose that, we die as a nation. Anti-immigrant sentiments materialized as actual anti-immigrant policies will kill our nation. IMO.
But yeah, eat the rich.
Patricia Kayden
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: ‘Twas President Obama who fixed the economy and there is plenty of evidence to prove that it happened under his watch. Donald Jr is talking strictly to his father’s base with that whopper. Hope Dems push back.
TriassicSands
@Patricia Kayden: These are the kinds of questions that require a second thought. First, yes, there are a lot of foolish, insconsiderate people who will end up needing help and putting rescue personnel at risk. But, second, many people, as others have pointed out, lack the wherewithal to evacuate. For some it is money; for others it may be transportation. But for many it may be a lack of intelligence that has no remedy. That lack may explain other circumstances that make it difficult for them to evacuate.Someone too unintelligent to understand the risk, may be unemployable. One of the things I have emphasized about Trump supporters is that many are just stupid. Stupidity, like intelligence is not one thing — there are varieties of intelligence and stupidity, but in the case of Trump voters there are likelly to be quite a few who are profoundly stupid.
Since lots of people in both parties are loyal to a party because their parents were Rs or Ds, and that is, arguably, a very stupid position, there are stupid people — lots of them — in both major parties.
In a perfect world (everyone would be brilliant) we might say that no “innocent” person should ever be left to “fate,” while no person who had the means to evacuate and didn’t would ever be rescued. But that has its own set of problems…
In a sport like rock climbing or mountaineering, people voluntarily risk their lives climbing and people voluntarily risk their lives to rescue others who’ve gotten into trouble. One could argue that the second group has no obligation to rescue members of the first group, but, in fact, there is a kind of unwritten pact among most climbers that you help those in need and they’ll help you if the tables are turned.
The case of natural disaster evacuation is different,* because at least some of the desperate may not really deserve to be helped — they ignored warnings, thought they knew better, and were wrong. Why should anyone be injured or die because of that kind of selfishness? That is a question individuals have to answer for themselves.
*In climbing, both parties are part of a likeminded whole. Members of either group could easily switch places under different circumstances. In the case of evacuations in the face of natural disasters, that interchangeability is likely to be very limited. The rescuers will, for the most part, be the rescuers, and the dependent will, for the most part, be the ones needing help.
Ruckus
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Nothing.
It isn’t that people don’t care many of them do. But it’s a big world and we have to solve our own problems as well as work on things for others. And there are only so many hours and so many days. The UK did it’s brexit. How’s that going to work in their favor? We somehow managed to elect the worst president ever, at a time when we really needed far, far better.
Can we eliminate poverty? I seriously doubt that it’s possible. Can we make a significant dent in it? Without a doubt, but that requires that we take all the billionaires and take the wind out of their sails. IOW we tax them far more. They will still be wealthy, they just won’t be as wealthy. Tough fucking noggies. For all of our combined wealth we are still a species and cultures that rewards selfishness. And in a time when there are more of us on the same size planet with the same basic food abilities. Populations continue to grow, which means things will get worse, till we die off or until we learn what it will take to live reasonably on a crowded planet. And the change is accelerating.
How many of your friends acquaintances were raised to be respectful of the world and each other? A large percentage or a small one. I’m betting small. Conservatives want to revert to an earlier time, one that satisfies their racism, religion, whatever. Time doesn’t have a reverse, no matter how much they think it does.
Bill Arnold
@ljt:
I was expecting (after the storm’s turn West and slowdown(forecast) and wind slowdown) minimal immediate loss of human life and a massive rain dump like Harvey’s but with different terrain.
Can close eyes and quite vividly imagine the angry creeks and streams fed by 37-68 cubic kilometers (10-18 trillion gallons) of rainwater. And perhaps a burst dam or two and probably burst manure lagoons and etc. And Know that this is just a precursor, that these and much worse will be increasingly frequent events in the coming decades. Caused (probabilistically) by greedy selfish humans (with most of us complicit; our lifestyle choices).
Mike in NC
@Patricia Kayden: Greaseball Donnie Jr has an orange jumpsuit in his future.
eemom
All the above observations are correct. And I don’t blame anybody for going about their business, because that’s just human nature.
Nevertheless: we live in a country where literally obscene wealth rules, at the cost of infinite human suffering. That really does need to be kept in mind every minute of every day.
debbie
@Lizzy L:
My mother had cataracts in both eyes and had them both removed at the same time. She spent practically the entire day walking around her apartment, looking out the windows, and marveling how colorful everything was. Congratulations on your new vision!
Patricia Kayden
@Mike in NC: Hopefully. Would be well deserved.