Picking up on what Dan Satterfield wrote at the American Geophysical Union website, this is how a responsible government gets the word out:
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
241 PM EDT SUN OCT 28 2012…AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS STORM TO IMPACT THE AREA…
SANDY IS EXPECTED TO SLAM INTO THE NEW JERSEY COAST LATER MONDAY NIGHT, BRINGING VERY HEAVY RAIN AND DAMAGING WINDS TO THE REGION. THE STORM IS A LARGE ONE, THEREFORE DO NOT FOCUS ON THE EXACT CENTER
OF THE STORM AS ALL AREAS WILL HAVE SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS.THIS HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE AN HISTORIC STORM, WITH WIDESPREAD WIND DAMAGE AND POWER OUTAGES, INLAND AND COASTAL FLOODING, AND MASSIVE BEACH EROSION. THE COMBINATION OF THE HEAVY RAIN AND PROLONGED WIND
WILL CREATE THE POTENTIAL FOR LONG LASTING POWER OUTAGES AND SERIOUS FLOODING.PREPARATIONS SHOULD BE WRAPPING UP AS CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO WORSEN TONIGHT AND ESPECIALLY ON MONDAY.
SOME IMPORTANT NOTES…
1. IF YOU ARE BEING ASKED TO EVACUATE A COASTAL LOCATION BY STATE AND LOCAL OFFICIALS, PLEASE DO SO.
2. IF YOU ARE RELUCTANT TO EVACUATE, AND YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO RODE OUT THE `62 STORM ON THE BARRIER ISLANDS, ASK THEM IF THEY COULD DO IT AGAIN.
3. IF YOU ARE RELUCTANT, THINK ABOUT YOUR LOVED ONES, THINK ABOUT THE EMERGENCY RESPONDERS WHO WILL BE UNABLE TO REACH YOU WHEN YOU MAKE THE PANICKED PHONE CALL TO BE RESCUED, THINK ABOUT THE RESCUE/RECOVERY TEAMS WHO WILL RESCUE YOU IF YOU ARE INJURED OR
RECOVER YOUR REMAINS IF YOU DO NOT SURVIVE. [Emphasis added.]4. SANDY IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS STORM. THERE WILL BE MAJOR PROPERTY DAMAGE, INJURIES ARE PROBABLY UNAVOIDABLE, BUT THE GOAL IS ZERO FATALITIES.
5. IF YOU THINK THE STORM IS OVER-HYPED AND EXAGGERATED, PLEASE ERR ON THE SIDE OF CAUTION.
WE WISH EVERYONE IN HARMS WAY ALL THE BEST. STAY SAFE!
Combine this with the presentation President Obama gave this morning, emphasizing the cooperation between the feds, state and local officials, and urging everyone to listen to what those folks are saying about what to do as Sandy does what it does so damn well. What we are seeing is an object lesson in the rationale behind forming associations that extend beyond the immediate connections of family, neighborhood, even town or state. Some of what the world challenges us with is larger than our daily compass contains.
Now I realize that’s not a terribly profound thought — “banal” is the word I’d use to describe it — except for the fact that one of our major political parties rejects it, as does its nominee for the chief executive slot, the man who would have to administer the next response to a challenge that exceeds the capacity of the local sheriff to handle:
W. Mitt Romney’s in his own words, as of June 13, 2011:
[Via Joan McCarter at Daily Kos]KING: What else, Governor Romney? You’ve been a chief executive of a state. I was just in Joplin, Missouri. I’ve been in Mississippi and Louisiana and Tennessee and other communities dealing with whether it’s the tornadoes, the flooding, and worse. FEMA is about to run out of money, and there are some people who say do it on a case-by-case basis and some people who say, you know, maybe we’re learning a lesson here that the states should take on more of this role. How do you deal with something like that?
ROMNEY: Absolutely. Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better.
Instead of thinking in the federal budget, what we should cut—we should ask ourselves the opposite question. What should we keep? We should take all of what we’re doing at the federal level and say, what are the things we’re doing that we don’t have to do? And those things we’ve got to stop doing, because we’re borrowing $1.6 trillion more this year than we’re taking in. We cannot…
KING: Including disaster relief, though?
ROMNEY: We cannot—we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids. It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that we’ll all be dead and gone before it’s paid off. It makes no sense at all. [emphasis added]
It’s always hard to know what, if anything, Romney actually believes when he says anything — but that’s irrelevant. This is a straightforward expression of a view that emerges directly from the political philosophy his party now embraces. That it’s a cartoon version of actual civic thought is beside the point. Here Romney says what his supporters actually believe, and it would behoove any American voter to think about that as we all watch much of the mid-Atlantic seaboard disappear underwater.
That is, there is a sermon to be heard on the text that Sandy is writing.
If you genuinely believe that the individual and the most immediate of his or her connections — family, neighbors, perhaps a town or even a single state — are the only legitimate authorities, then vote Romney and hope for the best. (And please do recall that the last time we tried that approach on for size, we lost a major American city to wind and water.)
On the other hand, if it still seems to you that citizens may gain from associations that extend to the level of the nation — that it makes sense “to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” — then you know what to do.
G.O.T.V. time, friends
Oh — and one more thing:
Like the Man said: stay safe.
Image: Andreas Achenback, Storm at the Mole, before 1910
Baud
That NWS statement nowhere refers to Sandy as an act of terror.
Obama has failed us again.
karen marie
I don’t have a link but it’s my understanding from what I saw on the twitters this morning that Romney is doubling down on the “send it to the state” nonsense with regard to emergency response.
Did I misunderstand?
SatanicPanic
Anyone who thinks disaster relief should be handled by the private sector is either unaware of the story of Marcus Licinius Crassus or is inspired by it. Romney is obviously the latter.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
As we’ve said before, Obama should have also talked about the dangers of drinking bleach and putting plastic bags over your head.
scav
Kids may very well be dead anyway, because of the lack of disaster relief. But again! See banal and probably the wrong kids to be worrying about in their world.
Beautiful wave, that one.
Higgs Boson's Mate
Romney’s just teasing us when he could go all the way; why have a United States? If we shouldn’t collectively do disaster response then why should we collectively do anything at all? Hand government back to the individual states, disband the military and all federal agencies. That way we won’t have to pass on any debt to our children, right?
Romney’s impression of Louis XVI is perfect.
Schlemizel
@karen marie:
I had also heard that he was all in favor of FEMA so he may be multiple-choicing it hard today
Roger Moore
There’s a little area in the back of my mind that hopes a bunch of wingnuts will refuse to evacuate or make other preparations because they’re not going to let the Kenyan in Chief tell them what to do. Does that make me a bad person?
The Bearded Blogger
What a fantastic post. Really sums up the differences in outlook.
LanceThruster
“We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is.”
― Mark Vonnegut
S. cerevisiae
This storm is a myth, just like global warming. Now excuse me while I find my snorkel…
lamh35
Is Romney seriously sending his campaign bus to the states in need of assistance to transport supplies? Am I the only one who thinks that just a stupid idea??
Also, I read on the twitter that Romney has spoken to the Republican govenors, but as of yet the Dem governors have heard nothing from him.
TooManyJens
AmericaBlog has it headlined as “Romney stands by pledge to shut down FEMA,” but I wouldn’t really characterize that statement as standing by any firm position. Though the update with the GOP strategist saying that nobody cares about FEMA right now is a beaut.
Schlemizel
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
NO NO NO – the military is the one thing the federal government MUST do. All else is optional and probably anti-constitutional!
Derelict
Only communists and weenies listen to elitist meteorologists with their satellites and so-called “sciencey” stuff.
catclub
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: There is no us in USA.
Also: speaking of sermons in storms, “Pull for the Shore”
TooManyJens
@Schlemizel: The day the SCOTUS upheld the ACA, I was struck by how many conservatives seem to believe that the Constitution mandates laissez-faire economic policy.
SatanicPanic
@Roger Moore: If that thought means we’re going to hell, at least we’ll have good company
Villago Delenda Est
Meanwhile, the parasitical slime that is OvenMitt is proposing that FEMA be outsourced to OvenMitt’s fellow parasitical slimes.
Spatula
GOTV question:
What good is it when we have no way of tracking the validity of the electronic voting machines, some of which are owned by companies owned by Romney and crew?
And why has nothing been done about this bullshit in the 12 years since the 2000 Bush coup?
The utterly compromised electronic voting system in this country makes GOTV efforts a sad joke. Where, exactly, are these votes going?
Yutsano
That painting is enchanting.
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Becuz states don’t get shiny military toys easily. And the White Horse is prophecised to rule all the US. Hard to do cut up in chunks.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Villago Delenda Est:
“So, your house is demolished, your dog is dead and your mom is bleeding to death? Disasters R US® is here to help. Here are two sticks of gum and a bandaid.”
“That will be $2500, cash or debit card only, please.”
The Dangerman
@Roger Moore:
No; think of it both as an opportunity to cull the herd and have some amazing Darwin Award nominations.
/stupidisasstupiddoes
KXB
My Dad called me a few minutes ago from Long Island. He lost power, as did the whole block. He says he saw a flash, and then the power went out. I am following the LIPA Twitter feed. There is no way power will be restored today. The LIPA website is telling people to be prepared to be without power for as many as 10 days. It may not be that bad, because they are close to NYC, which may get quicker attention than points further east on LI.
As if draw a contrast, the weather in Chicago is sunny and near 50.
gex
@Roger Moore: Rather than hope it, I assume it. Feels a bit better on the conscience.
trollhattan
@lamh35:
Not quite. The Rmoney buses will circle evacuees, honking.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Yutsano:
Funny thing, that. The only other white horse to be declared a ruler was Incitatus (A race horse) appointed by Caligula as consul of Rome.
joes527
They should have gone with:
… OR RECOVER YOUR BLOATED, WATERLOGGED CORPSE …
If you start the message in all caps, you need to turn it up a bit when you want attention.
The Dangerman
@KXB:
I heard someone say this morning that election polling stations will have the same priorities as hospitals and first responders for getting power back on.
PeakVT
Water level at The Battery.
scav
If only I could go to Amazon to find those books on running¥ Bobos.
¥preferably for its very life.
pluky
Major points for you!! “The more it burns, the lower my offer.”
Mnemosyne
@KXB:
Out here in California, we discovered that the restoration of power has a lot to do with debris clearance. We had a really nasty windstorm that took down a lot of big trees, so there were areas of Pasadena and other cities that didn’t have power for over a week because they had to untangle all the lines to make sure they didn’t accidentally electrocute anyone after turning the juice back on.
Of course,it being sunny So Cal, it was more an annoyance than anything else for most people, especially since they were able to get emergency help for people who needed power at home for medical reasons (respirators, etc.)
Unsympathetic
Nobody cares about FEMA until they need it – this is true. And then they need billions of it. And Romney wants to give that money to people who work on Wall Street.
I’m sitting here in downtown Baltimore, Bolton Hill.. and even though I’m on the second floor of a rowhome, the wind is already averaging about 30, gusts to 50-60 mph.
They put a curfew on the entire city – nobody is allowed to drive unless you’re emergency personnel.
The Moar You Know
@Spatula:
First: I agree with your fundamental objection to voting machines. Pencil and paper has worked for every election in this country from its founding until the year 2000, and it would work just fine now.
Second: In spite of that, two things are apparent:
1. Not all voting machines are the same. Most are easily audited. Some, like our local machines here in San Diego, require you to fill out a paper ballot (kept for recounts if needed), the machine tabulates. I have no issues with this type of machine so long as the paper backups are well-treated.
2. The “bad” touchscreen machines – those that have no audit trail or paper backup, happen to be located in swing states like Ohio. Specifically in this election, two counties in Ohio.
Third: The counting has always been the issue. Go back to paper ballots for all, and the shenanigans don’t stop, they just get moved to the registrar’s/Department of Elections office, and in a lot of ways that kind of fraud is a lot easier to conceal.
The reason that you GOTV is that if exit polls show your guy got 60% of the vote and your registrar says he got 35%, that is enough of a variance that someone with more fortitude than John Kerry would challenge. And should.
Bottom line: Your recent trolling has taken on an ugly tinge of “surrender already, stupid Obamabots”. I am not sure what you are trying to accomplish here. So I’ll ask you directly, Spatula.
What are you trying to accomplish here at Balloon Juice?
trollhattan
@Mnemosyne:
And an opportunity to learn to drink beer the British way.
gex
@The Dangerman: I wonder how that can be. Aren’t those pretty widely distributed? Polling places are all over the place, not tidily arranged on a few lines.
I sure hope they can do that, though.
kay
@Unsympathetic:
I was watching the various state scenes on the Weather Channel site. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. People are posting messages, and one of them was “I feel sick to my stomach”. She’s evacuated, and her whole town is flooded. It must be tough to wait and watch. All that water, and it just keeps coming.
PurpleGirl
@KXB: I had NY1 on and caught a bit of Gov. Cuomo’s afternoon press talk. Sandy’s winds are intensifying and the Weather Service has moved up landfall by two hours. And there is flooding starting in low-lying areas of Long Island.
gex
I just love that Mitt used the word immoral in his objection to disaster relief. I look at all this, look at all the people (and pets!) in harms way. And I can’t help but think that it would be immoral NOT to have disaster relief.
Mandalay
@Tom Levenson
A beautiful and inspiring encapsulation of a major difference between Obama and Romney on so many issues in this election.
I think you should be writing speeches for Obama.
trollhattan
Jeez.
Seanly
What kind of an idiot would think that disaster relief would be a great task for the private sector? There are elements of the recovery that will be done with by the private sector, but… oh, I could go on, but hve work to do.
Anyway, great post – right n long with some posts by Charles Pierce earlier today.
The Dangerman
@gex:
I don’t khow they have a choice; not getting them back up has to benefit one team or the other (I’m not sure which one and it probably varies by State) but, one way or another, the Election goes on. Could be paper ballots in some places ;-)
Chyron HR
@The Moar You Know:
Um, convince people (especially in swing states) not to bother voting for Obama? I mean, was this a trick question or something?
lamh35
Maya Angelou said on Oprah “when somene shows you who they are…believe them”. So this sumabish…reaches out to Repuclican Governors, but the Democrat governors tert nothing.
Romney reaches out to Republican Governors in path of Hurricane Sandy…Dem governors…nothing!
Spatula
@The Moar You Know:
Hmmm…good question.
I take regular breaks from my work to check BJ out.
I am a lifetime registered Democratic voter, though severely disenchanted with the party since the 2000 Bush coup was allowed to happen, the Kerry cave-in was allowed to happen, the Iraq war was rubber stamped by Dems and on and on…
I enjoy engaging with people who are fanatically emotionally invested in a cause or mind set, here at BJ that cause being Obama-ism before all – and asking questions and challenging assumptions and motivations, ultimately revealing that they are mostly a mirror image of the bullshit from the right wing more than anything else.
The endless talk of GOTV is just silly when as you just stated, there is no guarantee in the most vital voting areas that the votes will be tabulated correctly and varifiably. I ask why, after 12 years, a democratic congress and administration, NOTHING has really been done about this? And why the hell not?
And I ask why you’d work your ass off to GOTV for a party that hasn’t made that a priority?
Engaging on wingnut sites would be too easy and boring. I expect them to be stupid. But I am fascinated by the stupidity of alleged lefties who buy the Obama, two party, faux-democracy line. What is their real motivation?
I also am fascinated by the hatred and vitriol asking such questions engenders in people who probably think of themselves as decent.
What is my goal here? To entertain and educate myself. And I’ve definitely become a better writer as a result of engaging in these comments.
What’s your purpose at BJ?
trollhattan
@Seanly:
Gosh, IIRC Walmart made it to New Orleans before Brownie’s FEMA, so we should turn the whole works over to them. Instead of “starving the beast” Bush did everything he could to make the beast as incompetent as possible. It’s the same effect as starving, except that you get to spend moar of your kids’ money that Willard is sooooo very concerned about.
Spatula
@Chyron HR:
Hey genius, are you confident their votes will be accurately and legitimately counted? Do you have any means of verifying that?
Remember when all the 2004 exit polling said Kerry would win in Ohio, and they were still fighting there and still arguing over counting and Kerry conceded and left the country? Do you remember any of that?
Of course you do; you just pretend you don’t. Same thing could happen again. Why is that?
J. Michael Neal
@Spatula:
The cheap entertainment.
Mike G
@Seanly:
The kind of idiot who can afford his own security and private fire brigade, and whatever personnel and vehicles to haul his and his family’s ass to safety while everyone else suffers under the crony-ridden, profit-driven third-world disaster prep they “deserve” for not being rich.
scav
A singular disadvantage of the sea lies in the fact that after successfully surmounting one wave you discover that there is another behind it just as important and just as nervously anxious to do something effective in the way of swamping boats. In a ten-foot dingey one can get an idea of the resources of the sea in the line of waves that is not probable to the average experience, which is never at sea in a dingey. As each slaty wall of water approached, it shut all else from the view of the men in the boat, and it was not difficult to imagine that this particular wave was the final outburst of the ocean, the last effort of the grim water. There was a terrible grace in the move of the waves, and they came in silence, save for the snarling of the crests.
The Open Boat, Stephen Crane.
seemed multifacetted in its application today
Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God
Scott Brown is dropping out of a scheduled debate with Elizabeth Warren tomorrow, to focus on “emergency response and disaster relief, not campaigns and politics”.
Haydnseek
@Roger Moore: These are the same people who buy Hummers BECAUSE of the terrible gas mileage because it pisses off liberals. This is a real thing.
The Dangerman
@Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God:
What role does a sitting Senator have in either response or relief?
japa21
@Spatula:
So all of your energy is invested on engaging maybe a grand total of 2 people? What a waste of time.
PurpleGirl
@trollhattan: The Narrows-Verrazano Bridge gets closed to traffic because of high winds on a regular basis. So, that isn’t surprising.
SatanicPanic
@Spatula: Shorter Spatula- I am trolling.
Which is fine, I’m sure we’ve all done it, but let’s not get all high-minded about it.
Grumpy Code Monkey
@Roger Moore:
Yes, and join the club.
@Spatula:
Because voting laws are a function of the states, and there’s dick all the President or Congress can do about the problem. At best federal courts can step in and quash voting laws that are clearly unconstitutional.
The problem exists at the state level, so the solution needs to be at the state level as well.
Because the alternative is quantitatively, qualitatively, inarguably worse.
Loneoak
When President Romeny appoints Santorum as head of FEMA, we’ll get one more point:
“6) Hurricanes are part of Teh Homoseshual Agenda.”
Omnes Omnibus
@Spatula: Every electronic voting system used in an election for federal office must meet the requirements laid out in Section 301 of HAVA. I can’t link right now, but look it up. Some of the requirements are that a voter be able change or correct his or her ballot, that it notify the voter if he or she is overvoting
Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God
@The Dangerman:
None that I’m aware of (beyond showing up to vote for any assistance bills that might come up in DC later this week, if any).
Every time those two debate, Brown loses points. Easy enough to brush this off as optics/BS.
Poopyman
Things rather suddenly picked up here in Southern MD about a half hour ago. The rain is horizontal and coming through the siding on the 150 year old part of the house, the cats are freaking, and I can hear the crows panicking.
ETA – It’s seeping through the plaster, too in a couple of places. That’s how I can tell. Sigh. Time to start the damage tally …
Haydnseek
@Mnemosyne: At the height of the winds, I could see the occasional blue/green flash of light to the north. Lightning? No, exploding transformers. I was on my patio tying down a large cactus when something struck me in the back, hard enough to draw blood. It was an asphalt shingle from the roof of the house next door. Pasadena was indeed a mess. I have friends that were without power for a week, but as you say, minimal medical emergencies. I’m glad no appreciable rain was involved to soften the ground, or they would still be hauling away trees and debris……
Mandalay
@Spatula:
Right. If you express any view that violates BJ’s conventional wisdom – if you are not in line with the groupthink – you are far more likely to receive abuse than rational debate.
Which really invites the question: what are those posters trying to accomplish here at Balloon Juice?
scav
@japa21: I think I broke something chortling at the idea of kitshen instrument being a non-fanatical, non-emotionally involved inhabitant of anything but their lonely kitchen drawer and imaginary corkscrew friend. OK, back to my motto.
Spatula
@Grumpy Code Monkey:
The Obama campaign slogan in a nutshell.
How far we have sunk from “We are the change we have been waiting for!” and HOPE!
Sad.
Omnes Omnibus
@Omnes Omnibus: (stupid phone)
…. that it provide an audit trail, that it be accessible for voters with disabilities, and that the error rate not exceed certain standards.
Elie
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
Right on. Totally agree
Bill Arnold
@Spatula:
If there is no difference between R and D, then why the concern about potential Republican vote rigging? Some consistency please. Also, many Obama supporters are simply to the left of the Republicans, and many are small “c” conservatives.
Related, I’m thinking that some donors should pool a large (as in millions of dollars) reward for solid evidence of vote rigging. Like, now, well before the election. Put some fear into the minds of potential vote riggers, and get people close to the election machinery (including the human parts of it) motivated to turn their cameras and audio recording devices on.
I’m a little unsettled by the governor of Ohio saying that he has private polling data indicating a Romney lead. This is some combination of (1) true (2) false but he believes the private polls (3) laying groundwork (uncertainty) for vote rigging. I struggle mightily to remember the “principle of least malice” but it can be tough.
General Stuck
That black devil witchdoctored that blow, gist to make his self look good. Big showoff,
Elroy Dipthshod
Rosie Outlook
Central Ohio cold, windy, and rainy and (this time) Sandy’s to blame, so I can imagine how ugly things will be further east. I pray for minimal casualties.
Spatula
@Bill Arnold:
I struggle mightily to remember the “principle of least malice” but it can be tough.
Here’s another thing I don’t get:
Why, after all the malice and mendacity and utter debased viciousness we’ve seen from Republicans in the last 15 years, would ANY sane person, let alone a DEMOCRAT, assume “least malice” from them. On the contrary, the precedents indicate taking the opposite philosophy.
Dream On
Here I am, guilty as hell for wondering what the effects of this will be on the US elections.
1) I hope there’s been a lot of early voting. Because if places like Boston and New York City were shut down, it would be very strange to have Obama beat Romney 3000 votes to 800 votes. Total. (And assuredly Obama would.)
2) Massachusetts race is tight: could this have an effect. Ditto for some races in Conneticut. (Apologies if I have spelled those two states incorrectly.) We need that Senate – DINOS not withstanding. It would be nice to have a shot at the House as well.
3) Only states that could really effect things would be New Hampshire and especially Virginia. The DC outlying areas like Arlington should help the Democratic vote in Virginia, but I’ll bet they get a lot of rain.
4) And yes, as someone commented at the Guardian UK, “I’ll bet people would be paying more attention to the warnings if it was Morgan Freeman delivering them.” A joke, I’m sure.
Maude
So, a few thrill seekers drove down to the Jersey Shore to see the waves and then called a radio station to brag.
The idiots are out there.
The wind is increasing and I’m well inland.
Romney thinks that the bankers did such a fine job that led to 2008 and so why not outsource disaster relief.
lol
@Spatula:
Remember how Obama lost Ohio in 2008 despite all the exit polling saying he won?
LD50
OMG NANNY STATE SOÇIALISM !!!
trollhattan
@Poopyman:
Yikes, rain coming through the walls?!? Stay safe!
I knew folks who went through Typhoon Paka on Guam in the ’90s, which had some of the highest winds ever recorded, although they don’t know exactly how high because the windspeed thingie done broke. One guy told me the rain drove right through his apartment’s cinderblock walls and soaked the place.
I’ve experienced this myself. In a tent.
lol
@Bill Arnold:
He’s saying it because people are beginning to notice that
1. Obama has had a solid (if small) lead in Ohio for months. You can probably count on one hand the number of polls in the past six months that Romney has led in.
2. Obama is killing in early voting.
3. Romney can’t win without Ohio.
When Karl Rove said he had “the math” that Republicans would clean up in 2006, did you freak out that the fix was in? Or did you see it for the spin control it obviously was.
gex
@Haydnseek: There’s one in my neighborhood with a bumper sticker that says “My SUV offsets your Hybrid.”
Because they can’t just let other people conserve gas. And they can’t just buy the SUV because they need it (more likely they just want it.) They need to act like petulant children and burn extra gas specifically because they shouldn’t and no one can tell them otherwise.
I suspect that whenever he drops $100 filling his gas he thinks, “That’ll show them!”
Another Halocene Human
@SatanicPanic: I never got to study classics like I wanted to, so what incident in Crassus’ career are you referring to?
Poopyman
@trollhattan: Well, (cough) that may say more about the caulking between the cedar clapboard and the windowsill. But still, it’s the first time that’s happened to us.
Maude
@Another Halocene Human:
Thank you for asking.
scav
@Another Halocene Human: pretty sure he meant stories about how properties caught on fire (often being ones he wanted to buy?) and he’d show up and offer to buy them and kept lowering the price as they kept burning. Soon as he owned it, out came the slaves with buckets. But I’m no classicist, let alone a historian.
Schlemizel
@TooManyJens: Yup! the constitution supports whatever I say it does at this particular minute! Always has, always will!
In some ways it must be very nice to be that stupid, to know you are the only one who knows the actual truth & everything would be perfect if the world just reacted just the way I think they should.
LD50
@Spatula:
So you’re basically here to beat off — to make yourself feel better by impressing all the locals with your intellectual/moral superiority. Yawn.
Schlemizel
@Poopyman:
Wow! That can’t be good! Wish there was some help or even a suggestion I could offer. Hope things don’t get worse for you.
Another Halocene Human
@The Moar You Know: Pencil and paper has worked for every election in this country from its founding until the year 2000, and it would work just fine now.
Indelible ink pens, please.
SatanicPanic
@Another Halocene Human: His “firefighting” business. Apparently people whose homes are on fire (and neighbors of said people) are willing to sell cheap. He’d put out the fire once he acquired title. Like Romney, he later went into politics.
LD50
@Spatula: And yes, I’m sure your detached, airy cynicism is a vastly more constructive alternative.
Another Halocene Human
@The Moar You Know: Not all voting machines are the same. Most are easily audited. Some, like our local machines here in San Diego, require you to fill out a paper ballot (kept for recounts if needed), the machine tabulates. I have no issues with this type of machine so long as the paper backups are well-treated.
Disagree. The ScanTron should be used for unofficial counts only, with the official count done by a team of volunteers and partisan observers.
karen
@Spatula:
Oh look, FDL’s people are trolling Balloon Juice again.
Schlemizel
@Spatula:
and only 20% of that is his fault – 20% is the spineless Dems in the House & 60% the GOPs fault for making Republican Uber Alles the driving force of their existence.
The only thing worse than Obamas reelection would be an Rmoney administration. We had 8 years of that & another 4 would be the end of the world as we know it.
Another Halocene Human
@Spatula: I am a lifetime registered Democratic voter, though severely disenchanted with the party since the 2000 Bush coup was allowed to happen, the Kerry cave-in was allowed to happen, the Iraq war was rubber stamped by Dems and on and on…
I hate Dems for being such losers. For that reason I’m going to vote for serial election loser Jill Stein.
karen
@Mandalay:
Didn’t you know, they’re paid by Karl Rove.
LAC
@The Moar You Know:@Spatula: do you ever shut the fuck up? Isn’t there a brook you could drown in or a live wire you can stick in your mouth? Even if you are not on the east coast, you can try.
Birthmarker
@trollhattan: We went through the 2011 Bama tornadoes and this was my observation.
The electrical transmission towers were toppled, and almost the entire of North Alabama was without power for several days. Yet some of the big box stores like
Lowe’s never closed. They had generator power adequate to run the entire huge store.
I wondered if the big box stores get some kind of tax break to be wired for that, as a method of privatizing emergency relief.
Of course one paid for the post-storm supplies there. I think shelters provided for those without resources, but the rest of us just shopped.
Someone I know in Houston who went through something similiar (I believe in 2005) said that Walmart had truckloads of water, batteries, etc., once again for those who could pay. So disaster relief is already “privatized” to those of us with resources.
Tom–Dan Satterfield was our weatherman, on the local CBS affiliate here, til about a year ago!
Another Halocene Human
@japa21: That is what is known as an “artist’s statement”. So bullshit piled upon bullshit, but with the purpose of fooling some posh would-be snob into buying your “artwork” or awarding you a grant.
trollhattan
Soon-to-be Daily Caller/Fox headline:
“In the midst of disaster, Kenyan harrasses NJ Governor”
karen
@Spatula:
Why do you care? If the election gets stolen by the GOP, it’s your wet dream because the horror that will rape the country will inspire the country to become progressive and abandon the GOP forever.
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH]
But you keep dreaming.
LAC
Not you , Moar, not you…
Another Halocene Human
@SatanicPanic: Shorter Spatula- I am trolling.
Let’s just hope the Massachusetts Arts and Cultural Council, which is supported by state monies, is not paying for his time.
Poopyman
@Schlemizel: I’ve already been giving myself suggestions, like “Hey dummy! Howzabout caulking around the windows?” Not tonight, though.
One nice thing: every blast of wind that hits this house doesn’t shake it one whit. And that’s with an unhindered mile reach across the Patuxent that the wind travels before slamming into it.
Gonna be a fun 12-15 hours, though. The cats are not happy campers, with all the noise.
Another Halocene Human
@Mandalay: If you express any view that violates BJ’s conventional wisdom – if you are not in line with the groupthink – you are far more likely to receive abuse than rational debate.
It’s always groupthink when you fail to persuade.
Why does nobody GET IT?! Cue the authoritarian power fantasies.
Redshift
@Bill Arnold:
Don’t be. There’s a word in politics for those who talk about their internal polling when all the public polls are against them, and that word is “loser.” (Or more specifically, “loser trying to cheer up their supporters and squeeze more money out of contributors.”)
ranchandsyrup
@Another Halocene Human: Holy crap this made me guffaw. Thanks for that and cheers.
1. Don’t vote for obummmmer.
2. ?????
3.
ProfitProgressive utopia.It’s a business plan/political roadmap all in one!
The Moar You Know
@Spatula: Thank you for the answer.
Why am I here? You will laugh. I study trolling, or as it’s known by those who need to make up bigger and better words for things, “the impact of disruptive online discourse on online communities.” I look for the techniques that work, and those that don’t. I try them myself, in some cases, to see if they can be replicated. All those go into my thesis (working on my Master’s in Psych).
DougJ, of course, was the reason I came here. He has been a goldmine. Haven’t run into anyone like him before or since. His ability to read a community and then slowly gut it from the inside out is extraordinary (I pursued his work at Red State, he really did a number on them over there.)
At any rate, thank you for your answer, I appreciate your candor.
SatanicPanic
@Another Halocene Human: Seriously, I don’t know why people are going out of their way to explain stuff to Spatula, I’m sure he knows all that and he’s just trying to mess with us. That’s what he said in so many words. I think we should all agree to believe him.
Steeplejack (phone)
My power just went out about 30 minutes ago (Falls Church, VA). Rain has almost stopped, but wind is up. Weather Channel page for my ZIP code says 30 mph gusting to 50 mph. Seems about right.
Steep out, rigging for silent running.
Redshift
Just got a call from my mom, and their power’s out. They live about fifteen miles from here, but there are a lot more big trees and they’re at the tail end of the local electric grid, so if the power goes out anywhere in their area, it goes out for them.
Crap, that last wind gust actually shook the house. So far the power hasn’t flickered here, but who knows how long that’ll last.
joel hanes
@Poopyman:
blast of wind … doesn’t shake [this house] one whit.
Chestnut mainbeams ?
One of the worst environmental wounds that Americans inflicted on themselves was the loss of the American Chestnut, a superb shade tree that produced excellent timber, made beautiful furniture, and fed the passenger pigeon.
Mnemosyne
@Birthmarker:
The thing that the big bad gubbmint does in that case is prevent Wal-Mart and Home Depot from price-gouging, at least here in California. IIRC, our state law says that businesses cannot increase their normal prices during a disaster, and I remember that some people were prosecuted for price-gouging after the Northridge earthquake.
trollhattan
@joel hanes:
Sad to say I’ve never seen one. Have there been any thoughts to “reengineering” them to resist blight and then reintroduce? Too late for the passenger pigeon, but IIUC there are scattered chestnuts left.
trollhattan
@Mnemosyne:
Which must rankle both companies, considerably.
Another Halocene Human
@scav: Ah, this would make sense. So a private firefighting force == basically the Mob.
Bill Arnold
@Spatula:
Since you asked, assumption of malice is a mental shortcut/heuristic, and a bit mentally lazy in the way it lumps complex distributions of motivations into “malice”. IMO.
It is a form of underestimating one’s opponents.
Mnemosyne
@joel hanes:
Apparently some people are trying to restore them. I know we still have a type of chestnut tree here in Southern California. There was a nasty soil-based blight that started killing palm trees in our region, and the Dept. of Agriculture recommended that people re-plant with native trees (like the chestnut) that are impervious to the blight, because another palm tree would just killed by the blight.
(Yes, it’s true — palm trees are not native to Southern California, but they looked pretty, so they were planted and ended up replacing a lot of native trees.)
Poopyman
@trollhattan: IIRC, there’s a blight-resistant strain that is ready to or has recently gone commercial. IIRC again, it’s mostly American Chestnut with the disease resistance from a European strain.
This house may have chestnut bones, but the sills are oak and some of the rafters and purlins are hewn pine, from what I’ve uncovered. All harvested locally in early Victorian days.
Another Halocene Human
@Birthmarker: Disaster relief for those who can afford it.
No racial implication at all with the distribution of wealth In Da Souf’.
And then there’s the government paying to rebuild rich peoples’ houses in wetlands. Why is there no call to leave THAT to the states?
(Btw, not attacking you, Birthmarker, just angry with the whole thing.)
Mnemosyne
@trollhattan:
The advantage of a level playing field is that, while it may be annoying to know that you can’t price-gouge in an emergency, you at least have the comfort of knowing your competitor isn’t allowed to do it, either.
I would wonder why so many Republicans oppose this basic function of a free market, but then I remember that they really do think that cheating is A-OK as long as you win.
arguingwithsignposts
@SatanicPanic:
Maybe he thinks he’s going to sell some paintings.
Roger Moore
@Haydnseek:
Yeah, the exploding transformers were impressive, once I figured out that’s what they were. I live high enough up to have a good view, and it was pretty damn impressive to watch the flashes all across the valley. Once I was done being freaked out by hearing stuff get dragged across the roof.
The Moar You Know
@trollhattan: You wouldn’t have seen one, the blight first hit in 1876 and was diagnosed in 1904 as I recall. The blight is…virulent.
By 1950, the species was essentially wiped out. 9 million acres of forest, gone. American trees are not resistant, and couldn’t develop resistance as the disease kills the trees before they reach sexual maturity. The Asian trees get the fungus as well but don’t die from it; they are resistant.
As per resistance: A less virulent strain successfully induces a form of resistance in the tree, but sadly, the disease scars the tree so the timber is useless.
American chestnuts once made up about 25 percent of the forests in the eastern United States, with an estimated 4 billion trees.
All gone, because of human stupidity.
Poopyman
@trollhattan: Ah, now that I don’t have a cat sprawled on the keyboard, here’s a link to the chestnut restoration project.
(Power’s flickering. Saved so far by the UPS. )
? Martin
@Spatula:
Voting is the responsibility of the states. Always has been.
The problems with voting aren’t policy oriented anyway – they’re entirely procedural in ways that most people have trouble grasping. The Electoral College creates huge opportunities for voter fraud that wouldn’t exist in a straight popular vote because the EC shrinks the map considerably. Why has there never been talk of voter fraud/vote count fraud in California or New York? Because the magnitude of the fraud would have to be on the scale of millions of votes. Only in battleground states is it even conceivable that you could rig an election where margins are likely to be small and where the winner of the state takes all of the EVs. There you only need thousands of votes to effect the swing of EVs that represent millions. Now you’re getting somewhere.
The single biggest move to eliminate vote fraud of any kind in the US would be a simple move away from the EC and toward a popular vote. And yes, Democrats are working hard to get there by other means. And yes, all since 2000.
That’s going to do more to secure the vote in most places than any legislation by Congress telling states what kind of machine to use or not use, or what kind of ID to accept or not accept, or how many polling setups per person.
The Dangerman
@Mnemosyne:
…until they catch fire, whereupon they kinda explode, sending the flaming fronds out like a roman candle…
TenguPhule
Not if his head is still attached to his neck.
Another Halocene Human
@karen: If the election gets stolen by the GOP, it’s your wet dream because the horror that will rape the country will inspire the country to become progressive and abandon the GOP forever.
And that’s the whole game. The GOP knows their obstruction, graft, incompetence actually drives the lo-info to their arms, ideologically. The media is rigged in the Kochs’ favor, so liberal and progressive voices have an uphill battle informing the electorate about what’s really going on.
Tools like the kitchen utensil either are in the employ of the corporatist right or they are too dumb to know that they could be paid to spew disinfos. Useful idiots. RNC volunteers.
scav
Interesting little exchange from the Guard liveboog
trollhattan
@Mnemosyne:
Cut down the last of my Mexican fan palms about five years ago (self-deport, you damn weed!) and I’m still pulling several hundred volunteers from my yard, yearly. They make a nice yard shrub, right up to the time your pole saw no longer reaches the dead lower fronds, at which point they become vermin and palm tree factories.
Yuck.
Mnemosyne
@The Dangerman:
Palm trees aren’t so bad when you remember that (also non-native) eucalyptus trees were planted in a lot of places. And those suckers are full of flammable oils.
TenguPhule
Actually, those pests simply evolved and moved into Wall Street as brokers.
trollhattan
@Poopyman:
Very cool–I hope it works!
Another Halocene Human
@SatanicPanic: No, not trying to explain anything to Spats, just wanting to share something that had kind of dawned on me last night.
Maybe I’m slow.
gene108
I’ve been watching the local news and it is full of political ads for local races.
I live in South Jersey, so I get the PA Senate Race (mostly Republican Tom Smith, with some from incumbent Dem. Bob Casey, Jr.), my district the NJ-3 race (only from Republican incumbent Jon Runyan) and the NJ Senate race (only from Democratic incumbent Bob Menendez).
The ads are beginning to bug me, mostly because they are mostly from Republicans and people will be home glued to the local news storm-coverage pr0n. I don’t know how much of an effect it’ll have, but I wish there were more Democratic ads.
scav
@Mnemosyne: scotch broom is another nicely flammable import, and they planted it all along the 18 mile escape route from where I grew up in the nat. forest. at least the rolling yucca flameballs were domestics.
TR
Spatula is a narcissistic asshole. Ignore him.
Geoduck
@The Moar You Know:
According to Wikipedia at least, there are still a few stands around, including some transplanted out West, where the blight isn’t as big a problem.
trollhattan
@TenguPhule:
Reading that, the first word that pops into mind is, “Pull!”
Poopyman
I do not like what I’m seeing on the Dover AFB radar. That yellow blob is descending on the whole DC area.
Bill Arnold
@trollhattan:
These appear to be back-cross projects, breeding a variety of chestnut that is mostly American chestnut. Interesting.
You can still find occasional American chestnut saplings in the northeastern woods but they don’t get very big.
dance around in your bones
I’d be interested in a “live/on the ground’ thread from any Balloon Juicers affected by the hurricane (as long as they are able/have power).
Is Cole already snowed under? Or just kickin’ it with ladyfriend? Still doin’ his booty dance?
(Now THAT would be a video I am sure we would ALL enjoy!)
trollhattan
My irony meter is at 2/3 that my chosen hurricane feed is the BBC. They just posted a pic of a flooded FDR Drive on Manhattan.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20121635
Poopyman
@gene108: We get the DC market stations, and both sides are hitting Virginia hard. We get Romney-Obama-Romney-Obama-boner pill-Romney-acid indigestion-Obama, ad infinitum.
So here I am watching a hurricane on radar instead. Kind of like watching the washers at the laundromat. (With their doors open, for a closer analogy.)
1badbaba3
@Spatula: Ah, so you assume nothing is being done to deal with the “bullshit”. Interesting.
@Mandalay: And what, pray tell, is this “groupthink” of which you speak? Is it like a pony? I like ponies. I want a pony!
Mom! ! ! !
Lojasmo
@Spatula:
Nothing in the constitution about state voting laws, chump. Some states have great systems, some shitty. This is why states in which the administration and legislature are controlled by republicans ( like your shitty state) have shitty voting practices.
Now fuck off.
Suffern ACE
@scav: saw that. Reports are that dozens may have stayed behind in AC. In a city of 40,000, that’s not bad. I’m thinking someone is hedging their bets in case something goes wrong. So far, nothing has. But in case there needs to be someone to throw under the bus, it will be the mayor of AC.
SatanicPanic
@Mnemosyne: A lot of them were planted decades ago and from the way it looks they’re nearing the end of their life cycle. I’ve seen some BIG branches just fall off out of nowhere. They look pretty, but they make me nervous.
aimai
@Another Halocene Human:
Maybe I’m duplicating someone else but Crassus made his fortune running a private fire department in Rome, which was always at risk of massive fires sweeping through the tenements and apartment buildings. His slaves would run up to the fire and force the hapless owner to sell the building cheap before they would put out the fire. They engaged in running battles with other private fire fighters and basically cornered the market in disaster purchases. In this way he became one of the wealthiest men in Rome.
aimai
Shawn in ShowMe
@scav:
I’m calling bullshit on Christie’s accusation against Langford. Chrissy knows that Langford’s press conference begging citizens to leave the city is on YouTube right?
Baud
@aimai:
How do you say “job creator” in Latin?
Lojasmo
@Spatula:
I sure as fuck am. After being an observer for the franken/Coleman recount I know FOR SURE.
Of course, I don’t live in a shithole like Florida.
Patricia Kayden
@Schlemizel: And the federal government MUST stop women from exercising autonomy over their own bodies, i.e., force them to give birth once they get pregnant, even if the pregnancy is a result of incest or rape.
scav
@Shawn in ShowMe: You’d have thunk they’d have figured those things out by now. . .
Davis X. Machina
@Baud: You couldn’t, really. Non-market economy. The whole idea of ‘wages’ is pretty fuzzy, outside the military.
90% of the population is peasant agriculturists and their extended-with-slaves families. In the rest, the help, if there’s non-family help, is owned, not hired.
The ancient world, even in all its marble-and-mosaics glory, was third world on a good day, and fourth on a bad one.
Comrade Mary
@Shawn in ShowMe: I’m looking for that, but no luck. Do you have a link?
Meanwhile, there’s 2-3 feet of snow forecast for West Virginia. Don’t know if that includes John’s corner.
Odie Hugh Manatee
I filled out my ballot last night and boy does it feel good to vote for the Kenyan usurper! My wife and daughter are filling theirs out tonight and I will drop them off at the ballot box tomorrow morning. I also voted against more c a s i n o s, eliminating the “death tax” and eliminating taxes on property transfers. I also voted for every Democrat on the ballot. Religious nutjob Art “nuclear waste can be made safe for home foundations” Robinson is promising “careers and jobs for everyone!”
DeFazio isn’t a nutjob and promising things that he can’t deliver so that was an easy choice.
gex
@The Dangerman: I think you just stumbled upon the topic of Mitt’s calls to Republican governors.
aimai
@Davis X. Machina:
Well–how about “master?”
aimai
xian
@SatanicPanic: exactly. seeking attention. with a message that boils down to low Broderism. mission accomplished.
Emma
@Poopyman: Looks about right. It’s been strange, watching so many of you go through the sort of preparations that are downright common down in South Florida. We check out hurricane kits every year at the beginning of the season.
? Martin
Water level at Battery Park is now 10.7′. Should be 3.5′. Should go up about another foot as high tide hits. There’s a lot of NYC below sea level…
Comrade Mary
HOLY FUCK! Building collapse in Manhattan. Pictures from Business Insider and confirmation from NYFD Twitter account.
Elizabelle
In other news, Senator Claire McCaskill’s mother died. Aged 84.
Davis X. Machina
@aimai: There is — and it may be more useful — a rich vocabulary for discussing masters and slaves.
Dominus is the guy who owns slaves. Erus is what slaves call their own owners — one SA scholar/translator I saw translated it with ‘baas‘.
Shawn in ShowMe
@Comrade Mary:
Langford Press Conference
He says the following at about the 4:25 minute mark
Langford statement: “We want our residents to take every precaution to get out to town if they can. If they can’t or won’t, then at least go to a shelter.”
JGabriel
WABC is reporting that a bunch of transformers, half-a-dozen or more, just blew up in the Battery Park/Wall St. area in Manhattan.
Enhanced Mooching Techniques
@Spatula:
Well, did I call it last week on the troll; He really wants Obama to win but is just to much of a coward to admit it himself.
Spatula, don’t flatter yourself. You’re no student of DougJ. DougJ has the ability to empathizes with people holding opinions he doesn’t like. That’s why he trolls to so well. As for you, you’re just another teenager in an adult’s body. You always talk to yourself when you post since you think the rest of us think what you say is cute. That’s why you are so pathetically transparent.
And BTW Spatula, you don’t realize it but DougJ has you trolled hard.
Comrade Mary
@Shawn in ShowMe: Thanks! For some reason I was only finding a teeny excerpt from that conference.
andy
@Roger Moore: Well, I notice something to that effect is already a meme appearing on my Facebook feed.
Baud
@Davis X. Machina:
Erus Romney. I think he would like that.
Redshift
@Poopyman: Don’t forget the pro- and anti-casino ads! And the Kaine and Allen ads (curiously, I see pro-Kaine, anti-Kaine and anti-Allen ads, but almost no pro-Allen ads.)
I was up in Baltimore yesterday. For their 25th anniversary, friends were holding a party and fundraiser for marriage equality. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you guys on that one!
Uncle Cosmo
@Poopyman: Ain’t been a pick-a-nick up here in Bawlmer either, hon–we’re catching the edge of the yaller (which presuming the key is in m/s is something like 75 MPH). I gather there is worse to come (or at least some hours more of as bad as it is)…
koolearl
Strange, I am 15 miles west of Philly and rain has let up to a drizzle with occaisional gusts that aren’t too hard. I could walk around outside if I wanted to
PsiFighter37
Just riding it out in my apartment (I’m on the East Side, not close enough to the water to be evacuated)…the wind has definitely picked up, and it’s been horizontally raining since around 1 PM or so. The rain itself isn’t as heavy as other rain I’ve experienced here, but the wind is something fierce.
Hopefully the power doesn’t go out, because that would suck.
The only upshot is that I don’t have work tomorrow – all financial markets are basically closed. Yippee.
Redshift
@Poopyman:
Don’t forget the pro- and anti-cas1no ads! And the Kaine and Allen ads (curiously, I see pro-Kaine, anti-Kaine and anti-Allen ads, but almost no pro-Allen ads.)
I was up in Baltimore yesterday. For their 25th anniversary, friends were holding a party and fundraiser for marriage equality. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you guys on that one!
(FYWP, got moderation for the c-word the first time…)
Raven
@PsiFighter37: My friends in Red Hook look like they are in some deep shit.
Raven
@Comrade Mary: WTF, that’s a buliding facade not a building.
PurpleGirl
Periodically listening to NY1. A reporter out in the Rockaways (Beach 94th St.) saw a Ford Explorer floating down the street.
joes527
@The Dangerman:
Like Mnemosyne said — pretty.
Mnemosyne
@Comrade Mary:
Yikes! Though I guess it’s good it was the facade and not the whole damn building. We get enough of that in earthquakes.
And those people were the lucky ones — some were in poorly designed apartment buildings that collapsed like a shuffled deck of cards when the quake hit. Amazingly, fewer than 100 people died overall, and it was probably closer to 60. Government “interference” (like strict building codes) at work.
Time to re-check the emergency supply kits at home …
Haydnseek
@Roger Moore: I didn’t know what those flashes were at first. I thought transformers, but I was just guessing. A day or two later I was watching Monday Night Football and they had a power failure at the stadium in San Francisco. At the time, the Goodyear blimp was overhead and caught the exact moment of the failure. Outside the stadium, there it was, that same blue/green flash, and then lights out.
scav
@Raven: everyone’s reporting it like that. We’ll be in chaos mode hyperventilation mode for a while now.
JGabriel
Oh shit. The ConEd website just went down.
Raven
@scav: A FB friend posted a link to a bunch of phony pictures. I look at a page from the Outer Banks and someone posted a picture of a pier falling down THREE hurricanes ago!
Poopyman
@Uncle Cosmo: I hear ya. It looks like we, you and I, are not going to be graced with the eye, which is what @koolearl: is seeing.
@Redshift: Right! Both sides have “teachers” in their ads, saying the money will/will not go to the schools. Personally, I don’t need to see another caseeno in MD.
And some dreadlocked black kid(*) was handing out Republican sample ballots in the parking lot when I voted Saturday, and I’m glad to say I voted opposite their choices on all but one.
(* – Not a standard Southern Maryland Republican, that one.)
PeakVT
11.25ft at The Battery and still rising. Did NYC or MTA put out any info what water level would start flooding the subway and other tunnels?
Poopyman
@PurpleGirl:
Anyone seen OJ lately?
scav
@Raven: The tuubz iz getting stranger and stranger.
PurpleGirl
I keep having a feeling that my building is swaying. I look at the computer monitor and think it’s moving. Weird brain feeling. I’ve experienced that only once or twice before — when NYC felt an earthquake some distance away.
CokieRoberts
Storm Surge prediction model from the Stevens Institute of Technology
Major disaster shaping up.
gene108
Power just went out for a second and came back on YAY!
Keeping fingers crossed power keeps holding up through the night.
Svensker
@Comrade Mary:
Turns out to be only the facade. No injuries reported so far.
MikeJ
@Raven: Fake pics?
Origuy
The National Weather Service has issued a flood warning for the Chicago lakeshore area.
Power is being shut off in Lower Manhattan.
Poopyman
@CokieRoberts: Well thank Dog! I was worried Obama wasn’t going to have his Katrina.
scav
@PeakVT: Jeff Masters said 10.5 but that’s second hand and we don’t know the base measurement.
Raven
@MikeJ: Ding
Suffern ACE
Cable is gone, but we still have power. Although its gone off three times in the last hour.
PurpleGirl
@PeakVT: I just looked at the MTA website and they do not a measurement number for flooding. Based on my knowledge of the system, flooding could start at any point in different stations, different venting arrangements, etc. What the MTA did do on Friday and Saturday before halting operations was to put up barriers at various points like open street vents, surround subway entrances, set up sandbags to block water.
ETA: MTA website is http://www.mta.info
? Martin
@scav: 11.62′ now, and the slope of the curve hasn’t started to flatten. It usually goes up another foot or so once it does, so it looks like they’ll probably see 12.5′. They’re well above prediction from NWS, etc.
Redshift
@Poopyman:
I know that the pro- and anti- ads are funded by cas1no companies in MD and WV, respectively. I don’t know what “rooting for injuries” would be in this situation, but that’s what I’d be for.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Uncle Cosmo: Just over the Mason-Dixon line in PA, we’ve had steady rain and ~30 mph winds, with higher gusts all afternoon (Beaufort scale 7, according to the evidence I see). Seems like an unending nor’easter on steroids to me.
JGabriel
__
__
JGabriel:
Whew. It’s back up.
.
gene108
IRS Withholding Tax Calculator is down on their website :-(
I need to figure out, if I’ll owe or get a refund back and since I’m not going anywhere tonight, it seemed like a good use of my time.
gnomedad
@Unsympathetic:
First they came for the drivers …
Comrade Mary
Oh, just the facade — whew!
Winds are getting insistent in Toronto. Had a second long blackout 20 minutes ago. Am cooking like mad, running the dishwasher just in case, and have a flashlight in every room.
(I’m presuming my gas water heater will be fine if the hydro goes, and I know I can run my gas stove.)
Picture of the exposed interior of the building: it must be like living in the world’s largest, scariest dollhouse.
Mnemosyne
@PurpleGirl:
That happened when we had our windstorm last year. And we’re in a second-floor apartment of a small three-story building, so it’s not like we were a giant skyscraper being buffeted about.
lacp
@Baud: although Anus Romney might be more accurate.
Odie Hugh Manatee
I hope everyone weathers this storm and comes out OK on the other side of it. Man is this shaping up to be a huge mess! I was thinking earlier that if I was a selfish bastard then Rmoney saying that he would eliminate FEMA would be right up my alley as there is rarely ever a disaster here in Oregon. Contrast that with the east and gulf coasts. I consider it an investment for when our disaster hits where Rmoney thinks it’s a waste of taxpayer funds.
You would think that a guy who makes his money investing would know that too.
Rmoney is a rich, selfish moran. Full stop.
Joel
@SatanicPanic: Fortunately the fucker got killed leading his armies into a disastrous battle. Too bad Romney wouldn’t do the same.
Mnemosyne
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
Don’t get too smug — Oregon is right in the ring of fire with the rest of us Pacific states.
I know I’m re-checking my earthquake kit when I get home tonight.
Spatula
@LD50:
Yes, that’s exactly it. You got it, brainiac.
Spatula
@karen:
That imagined FDL vs. BJ team rivalry is very important to you, isn’t it?
Spatula
@LAC:
Touch a nerve?
U mad bro?
I post because I care.
Spatula
@Another Halocene Human:
Awww…you mad that Cole commissioned a large and expensive painting from me, bro?
Spatula
@TR:
Hmmm…what does that make John Cole, who established this blog because the world can’t live without his opinion?
What does that make DougJ who posts here 268 times per day because the world can’t live without his opinion?
What does that make all politicians, including Barack Obama?
You think he campaigned for and won the presidency by being humble?
Please discus the comparative levels of MY narcisism vs that of Barack Obama.
Thank you.
gwangung
He’s promised to use his narcissism only for the good of the people.
I mean, you never took the Super Friends Narcissim Pledge, did you?
ranchandsyrup
@Spatula: sensitive troll is sensitive. whenever you get to teh Umadbro? and “you’re just jelly because John Cole likes me”, it’s ’cause your feelers got hurt.
Spatula
@ranchandsyrup:
But my feelers is fine.
Bill Arnold
Concur with the “Northeaster on steroids” observation above. About 40 miles north of Manhattan, and the wind is scary, hurricane Floyd level. Very little rain. New development with essentially no trees, but trees are surely blowing down elsewhere nearby. I may be out helping a bit tomorrow with a chainsaw; have a decent Stihl.
ranchandsyrup
@Spatula: so you claim. you do this pattern a lot. If you want to stay troll-relevant, you’re gonna have to switch it up. You’re an artist. Don’t half ass it on us. Put that artistry into your trolling.
Spatula
@ranchandsyrup:
I keep telling you people I am not trolling. I’m writing shit I think and believe, which may, you know, be worse. :D
Thus, I think it remains true that I am a much better artist than a troll…but if I’m not even trying to BE a troll, does that comparison apply?
I’m so confused.
ranchandsyrup
You present as a troll. If that’s not what you’re going for, you may want to rethink it.
I don’t believe that you’re not trolling, again because of experience and because of the incentives for trolling. Your professed reasons don’t stand to reason. The results you trumpet–being a better writer–really aren’t apparent.
Regardless, if you really wanted to speak to people and exchange ideas, you wouldn’t be acting the way you are. Just wanted you to know that this is readily apparent to all.
go back to your regularly scheduled trolling. I look forward to tomorrow’s episodes of “U Mad Bro” and “Neener neener, the proprietor likes me but not you”.
There is no cure for NPD.
Uncle Cosmo
@Bill Arnold: I’m hoping that that dewretcho in late June knocked down most of the unstable trees & branches that were threatening the power lines & that during the cleanup BGE etc. decided to go proactive & clear out the rest. So far only a couple of momentary flickers in the electric…
I have emergency shelter if the power goes at my brother’s place in Columbia, where the power lines are buried (though that’s no guarantee–if the substation gets knocked out they’re screwed too). But that’s 25 miles toward DC & after my derecho experience (when I nearly drove into a downed power line in the darkness) there’s no effing way I’m moving before first light at the earliest. I have enough blankets & flashlights to weather ;) the rest of the evening if needs be.
Everybody stay safe. Even you, Spatula, you pyrocanolaculous louse…
Spatula
@ranchandsyrup:
hey professor: Please share with the class your definition of “trolling.”
I definitely write better than I did seven years ago. Whether or not that is apparent to you just goes to show how bad a writer I was or am…or that you are a moron whose opinion of my writing is irrelevant. Or both.
But back to my first statement: The definition of trolling at BJ is: Consistent (I”ve been here almost eight years) commenter who doesn’t assimilate to the hive mind.
Douche.
I rather like “you mad, bro?” It’s a useful response to the direct, stupid insults that completely ignore the substantive point.
By the way, U mad, bro?
ranchandsyrup
Class, please turn to page 27 and see the picture of Spatula next to the definition of trolling.
Re hive mind: This is where you and PO, provided that you aren’t the same person which is a reasonable guess, agree. You both hate the obot hive mind. You both do your best to disrupt, hijack, etc. However, I can kind of respect PO for being straightforward about it. I don’t respect your subterfuge or tactics. You may be surprised that I would nominally agree with some of your concerns. How you go about espousing them makes me want to dismiss you entirely and I will filter you after this post and laugh at all of the pie jokes.
I liked umadbro when it came out. Then I realized that it’s a last defense when I saw it used a bunch. It is pure trollery yet you say you’re not a troll. Another example of how what you claim to be and how you act don’t add up. You need a new self-narrative or a behavior change to remedy this.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Mnemosyne:
I’m not being smug at all, I know that we have our own potential disasters waiting their turn. I’m just pointing out the fact that I’m happy to have FEMA there because disasters happen and the states can’t handle them all on their own. “Join or Die” was settled long ago.
Rmoney wants us to stand alone and die.
Bill Arnold
@Uncle Cosmo:
Gusting occasionally to 60+MPH here (40m north of NYC), which is enough to knock down trees in the northeast. And power glitches for a half second every several minutes. This is more wind than south new jersey is seeing, according to weather.com.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Bill Arnold:
A lot of people have no idea how easy trees can fall over in wet areas. I used to live in Clinton, NY and my Uncle there runs a tree removal service there. I worked with him for a month while looking for work and I was surprised how shallow some of the root systems on the trees are.
This storm is really making a huge mess and threatening a lot of lives.
Spatula
@ranchandsyrup:
Been here almost eight years. Started using U mad bro? in the last ten days just to be annoying.
Your in depth analysis is fucked but thanks anyway.
I’m not really trying to “add up” for you. I like my actual self narrative; the one in your head doesn’t bother me.
Though it’s kind of flattering, the amount of half assed thinking you’ve put into this.
ranchandsyrup
@Spatula: Yes, that is true about pie.
Spatula
@ranchandsyrup:
It’s very important to you that people believe you to have me pied.
Could you tell the group more about that?
gvg
@trollhattan: yes, people are working on it. American chestnut society I believe. there are chestnuts grown commercially here in Florida. Apparently the blight doesn’t like the higher temps. Someone found one tree doing OK in Ohio and bred from it-I think his name was Dunstan. The descendants crossed with the Chinese then back crossed are now about 98% American genes or something. Chestnut Hill nursery near Gainesville Florida carries them. I can buy the nuts sometimes in the local farmers market.
jp7505a
It’s only the little people sitting on the roof. nothing to see keep moving