My excuse for not writing about the flooding in Louisiana isn’t great, but here it is. When the rain started on Friday, I was still on vacation. Over the weekend, I focused mostly on other things than the news, and what I wrote was kind of pent up from a week of not writing about the campaign much at all. Monday and today were my chances to get back in the swing of things and formulate my thoughts on the state of the race.
But it’s also true that the Louisiana story hasn’t gotten enough play in the mainstream media, which means that it hasn’t been thrust in my face. I had to go seeking information on what’s going on there.
So, anyway, I apologize for not covering it.
With so-called 1,000-year rains hammering the region for days – in some places measuring 2 feet in less than three days — the National Guard was activated to rescue stranded residents. The self-appointed “Cajun Navy” sprung into action. Ordinary citizens from Grand Isle to Ruston have stepped in to offer what aid they can to victims of what is being called the worst natural disaster since Superstorm Sandy in 2012…
…More than 1,000 people had been rescued by Saturday afternoon as rising waters swallowed whole neighborhoods and even whole towns. As of Tuesday evening, that number was at 20,000-plus souls, with more than half of them in shelters. An estimated 75 percent of the homes in Livingston Parish were destroyed. Eleven people so far have been confirmed dead.
It’s a full-blown disaster down there, and fortunately the administration is on the ball even if I and the rest of the media haven’t been.
If I didn’t read Rod Dreher on a regular basis I wouldn’t have even known it was happening. That’s how much of a blackout there’s been.
I have friends there I met through a graphic design organization we’re all part of. They’ve lit up social media about it–not for my benefit or for donations but for their friends and family and community. Links to resources and stuff that people can use now.
Two days ago it was merely a 500-year flood. Guess that has become too common to be newsworthy.
July was the Hottest Month Ever Recorded; 2016 Set to Make 1998 Look Cold by Comparison
But it’s all fine. The fundies aren’t worried because when the time comes they’ll get the call from the almighty to build their arks.
Truthdig — Clinton Transition Team Headed by Anti-Climate `Power Broker’ Ken Salazar
Fine. It’s all fine.
“But his scorecard in 2008 from LCV was 100%!”
Even though he voted against increasing CAFE standards, against repealing tax breaks for Exxon, and against limiting drilling in the Gulf. Somehow, LCV can ignore that record when they praised his nomination by Obama.
Just like when they sent Carol Browner to vote down carbon taxes and anti-fracking language in the platform.
Pwoggies will set us straight.
Yeah. Great. Unsurprising. My expectations about anything Clinton does, who she appoints, etc, are excessively low. Leads to less disappointment. Nothing she’s done so far in terms of potential appointments is any surprise. Not what I’d like, but pretty much what I expected. NeoLibs are gonna be NeoLibs.
Near constant high ’90s here (Western Chicago Suburbs) with drought alternating with torrential rains. Lost a plum tree (native!) last year. Lost a three year old plum to drought this year. I was only half facetious in another post about growing oranges in Illinois. That orange rootstock that I mentioned in that post is growing by leaps and bounds. It seems to really like this hot and rainy weather.
People can argue about mathematical points in climate models, but the proof is in Mother Nature. Northern Illinois now has birds, trees, and insects that used to live only in Southern Illinois. Some safe species for Northern Illinois now only grow in Wisconsin. Canada now has a peach industry! (Specially bred, it’s true.)
AP:
Aren’t legacy candidates a grand way to run a democracy?
In four years she’ll move up to the Senate. After that the WH. Maybe with George P on the bottom of the ticket.
AP: “Breaking! Sun rises in the East!”
Expect politics to be dominated by the great families who own the government.
Booman will probably ban me for saying this, but “Liz Cheney / Hillary Clinton, I really don’t care which bloodthirsty Wall Street toady is elected.”
Well, one would ban abortions and same-sex marriage and the other now sort of supports both. So, there is that.
And one wraps her bloodthirstiness in the cloak of humanitarian R2P which allows people to feel good about bombing, killing, maiming, and destroying. Instead of deeds, Americans now evaluate public policies based on how they feel about themselves and their chosen leaders.
Yes, there is that. But I could live without either. I would prefer both to be legal just so the country can be more free, but they don’t personally affect me.
I won’t tolerate needless war and corporate rule just to gain someone else’s issues. It’s supposed to be a coalition but somehow straight white working people get nothing for their votes. Not even clean water or air.
straight white working people get nothing for their votes. Not even clean water or air.
That will resolve itself over the next few decades. Get rid of the work and there won’t be any working people.
I hope that was black humor.
I’ve been aware of it, but only peripherally. The same system stretches all the way up the appalachians to western PA.
I’ve spent much of this summer working on a project north of Philadelphia. As you know, it’s been a record hot summer, part of the second consecutive year that has blown the doors off of all previous heat records. There aren’t enough, IMHO, running trails here, and in fact some communities are as pedestrian hostile as I’ve ever seen (Langhorne, for example). But I’ve found a few areas with good forest running trails.
Running through these forests in the heat that has been a constant this summer has been quite the sensory experience. If you’ve traveled enough you’ll also get the sense that the situation is wrong – with this heat and humidity the flora should be different – more like near the Gulf Coast. It does appear that the flying fauna – insects and birds – are adapting and moving north. As they do, and transport seeds, I figure that in 25 years the fauna in this part of PA/NJ will be dramatically different. Of course, by then the earth’s temperature will be more than 2C over pre-industrial, instead of just 1.1C over, so expect the fauna to continue to evolve.
I realize 2016 is probably a temporary peak in global temperature, as 1998 was. It took 7 years after 1998 before another year was as hot, and another few before 1998 became the new normal, but by now if 2017 is the same global temperature as 1998 it would be the coolest year of the previous 6 years – that is, 1998’s record shattering high temperatures would, in 2017, be a big outlier in the coolness direction. In 20 years this year’s unbelievable heat will also be much cooler than any of the then-recent annual temperatures the earth will have experienced. Which is amazing to think of. Not only is this the new normal – in not long from now it will be the new “cooler than normal”.
Most if not all nightly news shows covered it yesterday and the day before.
This was a prodigious and slow-moving low pressure system which started more than a week ago dropping rain bombs over Florida and the eastern Gulf.
These sorts of “500” or “1000” year rainfalls have been happening again and again this year. Record warmth means the atmosphere can hold more moisture, and more is created through evaporation. My interpretation, which could be incorrect, is that heat drives the creation of strong and stationary high pressure systems, which blocks the movement of lows. High pressure over some areas creates more drought, while the strengthened lows create flooding where frontal boundaries lie.
In any case, this is just a taste. It will get worse from here, as politicians fly around in their jets collecting checks from lobbyists, and fossil fuel executives retire to walled compounds on high ground.
Maybe the Weather Channel doesn’t count as part of the mainstream media (because they’re on cable?), but they’ve been covering it from the get go. Of course, they still run their weather reality/entertainment shows during prime time where it’s become increasingly difficult to access one’s actual local weather. Guess we are all presumed to be on our weather apps on our smart phones.
Appears LA did learn something form Katrina. Some have decided not to leave flood victims to die.
FWIW: NPR seems to be doing a decent job covering this. I have heard some pretty good reporting on it, including interviews of people affected. Yesterday they had Gov John Bel Edwards on discussing the affects of this massive storm. One of the comments he made is that, because it’s not a “traditional” hurricane with a name, and because it doesn’t follow that type of storm pattern, it’s gotten much less attention.
I think it’s that, plus vying for attention while the Olympics are happening & the crazy Presidential race.
But I’ve heard quite a few decent reports on this on NPR. I believe that the Governor was among those who had to be rescued by boat since the flood waters rose so quickly. Others there commented about how people with boats – the person talking said a lot of people have them there – went out immediately to start rescuing people.
I haven’t seen much about it in my local nooz paper, but OTOH, out here in California we are, as usual, contending with numerous fast moving/growing wildfires. That, cough cough, consumes a lot of our news oxygen out here.
Our summer hasn’t been particularly hotter than normal in Northern CA; it’s pretty much around where it usually is, which is hot but typical. I believe Southern CA has had some hotter than normal temps. We almost never get rain in the summer, so that’s nothing new. Fingers crossed for a wet winter.
Good luck to those in Louisianna.
I’ve got two friends down there. It’s a shitty situation. I anticipate that in a few years, Louisiana is going to be uninhabitable.
New England Cable News (owned by NBC Universal) has been covering the flooding for several days now, in its “National” segment.