You’d have to buy into a ridiculously big and implausible conspiracy theory to believe all these different people and agencies gave enough fucks to keep this up for lolz or to make Trump look bad vs. the obvious that it’s a big deal to them because the integrity of weather warnings is critical to keeping people alive and safe
I spent most of my weekend at the airport volunteering to assist evacuees coming into Nassau.
There are a few moving pieces to this. For instance, we at one point had to have an armed unit from the RBDF (aka "The Marines") come in because we had Haitian evacuees coming in with firearms and other weapons. We ran into a security issue as well because BTC (local telco) was giving out smartphones with prepaid data and there were people trying to come back through the processing center to score a free phone. I was mostly involved with baggage handling which was incredibly heartbreaking because you're dealing with who have everything they own now crammed into a garbage bag.
With regard to the cruise ships and the like, I'm not sure about the Florida side, but the ones in port in Nassau have no place to disembark their passengers to. Every shelter outside of some resort hotels is full. I have people in my office who have half a dozen or more people living in their home because there's no shelter available. This is on the island that itself didn't really get hit that badly.
On the flip side I'm getting photos from my parents in Nova Scotia with all the damage there. Huge tree down in front of their house that took out the power lines.
The main reason the NWS made the correction of Trump in the first place is because they were getting flooded with calls of people who were afraid and wanted to know what was going on and what to do.
So let me get this straight: the president made a mistake on the trajectory of a hurricane because (lets be generous here) he was referencing an older model, doubles down and then goes out of his way to threaten the scientists who's job it is to save lives from these kinds of storms if they don't back up his horseshit.
Have I got the length and breadth of this down? Is there some other part of this I missed?
So let me get this straight: the president made a mistake on the trajectory of a hurricane because (lets be generous here) he was referencing an older model, doubles down and then goes out of his way to threaten the scientists who's job it is to save lives from these kinds of storms if they don't back up his horseshit.
Have I got the length and breadth of this down? Is there some other part of this I missed?
When I say we should be better, it's because the American people largely are better than this. We just aren't represented fairly in our government.
Wasn't meant to offend. There are absolutely individuals and communities that step up in outstanding, even heroic, ways.
But it's hard to not paint with a wide brush when it's more than anecdotal. Fact is, while a minority MIGHT be responsible for this clusterfuck, and every clusterfuck for the last 2+ centuries, the fact is, a majority of Americans are at least okay with the current state of affairs. Or at least okay with it enough that they don’t show up to vote.
When people step up (and massive frikkin kudos for doing so), it's awesome. Just wish more people were like you. World would probably be a better place.
Or if people gave a shit enough to note vote Voldemort to the Senate.
Again, this is not true. Even in the last horrific election the majority weren't for Trump. The vast majority of Americans do vote against Voldemorte, we're just gerrymandered in such a way that our votes are meaningless and that rural states with tiny populations and economies, and are influence by very powerful lobbies, have more say in our government than the states that actually house the majority of the populations. Look at any voting map, anywhere there is an actual city will nearly always be blue, and rural places with nowhere near the population will be red. America is ruled by those appointed by a minority of white, rural voters more than otherwise.
By majority, I was including the 10's of millions of eligible voters, or who could be (that weren't disenfranchised), who chose not to vote. That voter turnout tops out at ~60%, is frankly obscene*. That's what I mean. Up to 40% of the voterbase are fine with the status quo, on top of the 29% of voters that voted for Trump.
* Though I'll admit, I would be scared at turnout numbers if my home country didn't have compulsory voting too.
And don't disagree that rural areas with gerrymandering and Senate allocation are a problem. But it's not considered a serious enough issue that the majority of Americans give a shit. Or they'd be out there in Hong Kong style numbers.
Also, Voldemort is Rick Scott. Probably should have been clearer there. He had disenfranchisement help, but Senate races aren't gerrymandered.
But this is getting off topic (happy to discuss privately), and I thank you for your work on the relief efforts you've done. I'll throw another $20 José Andreas's way (donated when I recommended WCK earlier in the thread) as my way of contributing further to the effort, when I get home.
Personally I think "fine with the status quo" is far less an issue than "Wholly indifferent to the bullshit that is American politics and I swear to fucking god if I have to listen to another right/left-wing asshole rant for an hour I will just straight up murder everyone" combined with "What the fuck is a 'status quo?'"
We do a terrible job at teaching civics in this country and an even worse job at teaching why civic awareness and participation is important.
When I say we should be better, it's because the American people largely are better than this. We just aren't represented fairly in our government.
Wasn't meant to offend. There are absolutely individuals and communities that step up in outstanding, even heroic, ways.
But it's hard to not paint with a wide brush when it's more than anecdotal. Fact is, while a minority MIGHT be responsible for this clusterfuck, and every clusterfuck for the last 2+ centuries, the fact is, a majority of Americans are at least okay with the current state of affairs. Or at least okay with it enough that they don’t show up to vote.
When people step up (and massive frikkin kudos for doing so), it's awesome. Just wish more people were like you. World would probably be a better place.
Or if people gave a shit enough to note vote Voldemort to the Senate.
Again, this is not true. Even in the last horrific election the majority weren't for Trump. The vast majority of Americans do vote against Voldemorte, we're just gerrymandered in such a way that our votes are meaningless and that rural states with tiny populations and economies, and are influence by very powerful lobbies, have more say in our government than the states that actually house the majority of the populations. Look at any voting map, anywhere there is an actual city will nearly always be blue, and rural places with nowhere near the population will be red. America is ruled by those appointed by a minority of white, rural voters more than otherwise.
By majority, I was including the 10's of millions of eligible voters, or who could be (that weren't disenfranchised), who chose not to vote. That voter turnout tops out at ~60%, is frankly obscene*. That's what I mean. Up to 40% of the voterbase are fine with the status quo, on top of the 29% of voters that voted for Trump.
* Though I'll admit, I would be scared at turnout numbers if my home country didn't have compulsory voting too.
And don't disagree that rural areas with gerrymandering and Senate allocation are a problem. But it's not considered a serious enough issue that the majority of Americans give a shit. Or they'd be out there in Hong Kong style numbers.
Also, Voldemort is Rick Scott. Probably should have been clearer there. He had disenfranchisement help, but Senate races aren't gerrymandered.
But this is getting off topic (happy to discuss privately), and I thank you for your work on the relief efforts you've done. I'll throw another $20 José Andreas's way (donated when I recommended WCK earlier in the thread) as my way of contributing further to the effort, when I get home.
Personally I think "fine with the status quo" is far less an issue than "Wholly indifferent to the bullshit that is American politics and I swear to fucking god if I have to listen to another right/left-wing asshole rant for an hour I will just straight up murder everyone" combined with "What the fuck is a 'status quo?'"
We do a terrible job at teaching civics in this country and an even worse job at teaching why civic awareness and participation is important.
While I can't speak to any other country, in Australia they do the same regarding teaching civics and civic awareness.
If not for several factors (compulsory voting, de-politicization of voting infrastructure, easy access early voting, Saturday elections, and social eventing the day with democracy sausages), I do think Australia wouldn't be too far off the American model, and could quite possibly be worse, as the two parties aren't THAT far apart in ideology (compared to the US), so passion of the base isn't as much.
When I say we should be better, it's because the American people largely are better than this. We just aren't represented fairly in our government.
Wasn't meant to offend. There are absolutely individuals and communities that step up in outstanding, even heroic, ways.
But it's hard to not paint with a wide brush when it's more than anecdotal. Fact is, while a minority MIGHT be responsible for this clusterfuck, and every clusterfuck for the last 2+ centuries, the fact is, a majority of Americans are at least okay with the current state of affairs. Or at least okay with it enough that they don’t show up to vote.
When people step up (and massive frikkin kudos for doing so), it's awesome. Just wish more people were like you. World would probably be a better place.
Or if people gave a shit enough to note vote Voldemort to the Senate.
Again, this is not true. Even in the last horrific election the majority weren't for Trump. The vast majority of Americans do vote against Voldemorte, we're just gerrymandered in such a way that our votes are meaningless and that rural states with tiny populations and economies, and are influence by very powerful lobbies, have more say in our government than the states that actually house the majority of the populations. Look at any voting map, anywhere there is an actual city will nearly always be blue, and rural places with nowhere near the population will be red. America is ruled by those appointed by a minority of white, rural voters more than otherwise.
By majority, I was including the 10's of millions of eligible voters, or who could be (that weren't disenfranchised), who chose not to vote. That voter turnout tops out at ~60%, is frankly obscene*. That's what I mean. Up to 40% of the voterbase are fine with the status quo, on top of the 29% of voters that voted for Trump.
* Though I'll admit, I would be scared at turnout numbers if my home country didn't have compulsory voting too.
And don't disagree that rural areas with gerrymandering and Senate allocation are a problem. But it's not considered a serious enough issue that the majority of Americans give a shit. Or they'd be out there in Hong Kong style numbers.
Also, Voldemort is Rick Scott. Probably should have been clearer there. He had disenfranchisement help, but Senate races aren't gerrymandered.
But this is getting off topic (happy to discuss privately), and I thank you for your work on the relief efforts you've done. I'll throw another $20 José Andreas's way (donated when I recommended WCK earlier in the thread) as my way of contributing further to the effort, when I get home.
Personally I think "fine with the status quo" is far less an issue than "Wholly indifferent to the bullshit that is American politics and I swear to fucking god if I have to listen to another right/left-wing asshole rant for an hour I will just straight up murder everyone" combined with "What the fuck is a 'status quo?'"
We do a terrible job at teaching civics in this country and an even worse job at teaching why civic awareness and participation is important.
While I can't speak to any other country, in Australia they do the same regarding teaching civics and civic awareness.
If not for several factors (compulsory voting, de-politicization of voting infrastructure, easy access early voting, Saturday elections, and social eventing the day with democracy sausages), I do think Australia wouldn't be too far off the American model, and could quite possibly be worse, as the two parties aren't THAT far apart in ideology (compared to the US), so passion of the base isn't as much.
Our parties are the same because we don't have FPTP voting, and so they both have to play the middle.
Or at least, so I thought, until the Liberals won after the right wing decapitated the party.
When I say we should be better, it's because the American people largely are better than this. We just aren't represented fairly in our government.
Wasn't meant to offend. There are absolutely individuals and communities that step up in outstanding, even heroic, ways.
But it's hard to not paint with a wide brush when it's more than anecdotal. Fact is, while a minority MIGHT be responsible for this clusterfuck, and every clusterfuck for the last 2+ centuries, the fact is, a majority of Americans are at least okay with the current state of affairs. Or at least okay with it enough that they don’t show up to vote.
When people step up (and massive frikkin kudos for doing so), it's awesome. Just wish more people were like you. World would probably be a better place.
Or if people gave a shit enough to note vote Voldemort to the Senate.
Again, this is not true. Even in the last horrific election the majority weren't for Trump. The vast majority of Americans do vote against Voldemorte, we're just gerrymandered in such a way that our votes are meaningless and that rural states with tiny populations and economies, and are influence by very powerful lobbies, have more say in our government than the states that actually house the majority of the populations. Look at any voting map, anywhere there is an actual city will nearly always be blue, and rural places with nowhere near the population will be red. America is ruled by those appointed by a minority of white, rural voters more than otherwise.
By majority, I was including the 10's of millions of eligible voters, or who could be (that weren't disenfranchised), who chose not to vote. That voter turnout tops out at ~60%, is frankly obscene*. That's what I mean. Up to 40% of the voterbase are fine with the status quo, on top of the 29% of voters that voted for Trump.
* Though I'll admit, I would be scared at turnout numbers if my home country didn't have compulsory voting too.
And don't disagree that rural areas with gerrymandering and Senate allocation are a problem. But it's not considered a serious enough issue that the majority of Americans give a shit. Or they'd be out there in Hong Kong style numbers.
Also, Voldemort is Rick Scott. Probably should have been clearer there. He had disenfranchisement help, but Senate races aren't gerrymandered.
But this is getting off topic (happy to discuss privately), and I thank you for your work on the relief efforts you've done. I'll throw another $20 José Andreas's way (donated when I recommended WCK earlier in the thread) as my way of contributing further to the effort, when I get home.
Not going to go into this in detail in the hurricane thread, but Scott's victories had a lot more to do with local politics than disenfranchisement and his governance of the state, while not particularly great, was generally positive for a lot of people. Scott did a lot of good for a lot of powerful industries here and actually campaigned, while Bill Nelson rested on his laurels from the last 20 years of coasting along on his decaying Space Coast backing and, as pretty much everyone predicted, lost handily when he refused to campaign or reach out to anyone under 60 years old. Had literally any new Democrat candidate ran in his stead, Scott would have been defeated handily. Add in that Scott had just become the first US republican governor to pass gun restriction legislation after Parkland, he had a lot of positives to campaign on that were fresh in voters minds. Florida voters along the coast saw Scott as the governor that stopped oil drilling on our coastlines. Voters in the cities saw him as the one person who was willing to do something about gun violence here. Voters in the rural areas and locked to tourism industries saw him as a huge supporter of Big Sugar and the theme parks (which he absolutely was).
Voters saw Bill Nelson as an out-of-touch relic of the 60s who hadn't really done much in recent years to connect him back to his supporters. I voted for Nelson, because the larger context is what matters to me, but that's not true for a lot of folks here. Plenty of good people voted for Scott for good reasons.
That doesn't change the fact that he went on to vote lockstep with McConnel and supports Trump's agenda, but politics are a lot more complicated than good versus evil.
I spent most of my weekend at the airport volunteering to assist evacuees coming into Nassau.
There are a few moving pieces to this. For instance, we at one point had to have an armed unit from the RBDF (aka "The Marines") come in because we had Haitian evacuees coming in with firearms and other weapons. We ran into a security issue as well because BTC (local telco) was giving out smartphones with prepaid data and there were people trying to come back through the processing center to score a free phone. I was mostly involved with baggage handling which was incredibly heartbreaking because you're dealing with who have everything they own now crammed into a garbage bag.
With regard to the cruise ships and the like, I'm not sure about the Florida side, but the ones in port in Nassau have no place to disembark their passengers to. Every shelter outside of some resort hotels is full. I have people in my office who have half a dozen or more people living in their home because there's no shelter available. This is on the island that itself didn't really get hit that badly.
On the flip side I'm getting photos from my parents in Nova Scotia with all the damage there. Huge tree down in front of their house that took out the power lines.
Hope you and yours come out of this ok Edith
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EncA Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered Userregular
I spent most of my weekend at the airport volunteering to assist evacuees coming into Nassau.
There are a few moving pieces to this. For instance, we at one point had to have an armed unit from the RBDF (aka "The Marines") come in because we had Haitian evacuees coming in with firearms and other weapons. We ran into a security issue as well because BTC (local telco) was giving out smartphones with prepaid data and there were people trying to come back through the processing center to score a free phone. I was mostly involved with baggage handling which was incredibly heartbreaking because you're dealing with who have everything they own now crammed into a garbage bag.
With regard to the cruise ships and the like, I'm not sure about the Florida side, but the ones in port in Nassau have no place to disembark their passengers to. Every shelter outside of some resort hotels is full. I have people in my office who have half a dozen or more people living in their home because there's no shelter available. This is on the island that itself didn't really get hit that badly.
On the flip side I'm getting photos from my parents in Nova Scotia with all the damage there. Huge tree down in front of their house that took out the power lines.
What do folks need the most over there, from your view? Aside from access to safe places to evacuate to?
I spent most of my weekend at the airport volunteering to assist evacuees coming into Nassau.
There are a few moving pieces to this. For instance, we at one point had to have an armed unit from the RBDF (aka "The Marines") come in because we had Haitian evacuees coming in with firearms and other weapons. We ran into a security issue as well because BTC (local telco) was giving out smartphones with prepaid data and there were people trying to come back through the processing center to score a free phone. I was mostly involved with baggage handling which was incredibly heartbreaking because you're dealing with who have everything they own now crammed into a garbage bag.
With regard to the cruise ships and the like, I'm not sure about the Florida side, but the ones in port in Nassau have no place to disembark their passengers to. Every shelter outside of some resort hotels is full. I have people in my office who have half a dozen or more people living in their home because there's no shelter available. This is on the island that itself didn't really get hit that badly.
On the flip side I'm getting photos from my parents in Nova Scotia with all the damage there. Huge tree down in front of their house that took out the power lines.
What do folks need the most over there, from your view? Aside from access to safe places to evacuate to?
I would say safe space, generators, and then insulin and other diabetic supplies are probably the highest on the list. The Nassau power grid was overtaxed (to the extent that there is regular unscheduled load shedding at least once a week, including to the point of turning off ) and is now even more so. Cooling (requiring electricity) is a huge issue for evacuees as they are in spaces like gymnasiums that aren't set up for human habitation on this climate. Additionally, the Bahamas has a huge rate of diabetes (about 10% of the population - the rate is a couple of points higher than the U.S.) and a lot of people left their insulin and other supplies behind.
Don't want to deflect too much from the topic at hand, but the general "Weather" thread has been closed, and in regards to the cleanup effort, there's some good and bad news out of the aftermath of Hurricane Maria and Puerto Rico.
Bad is that there was apparently significant fraud and corruption in the aftermath.
Good is that the perpetrators are being called to account.
"JUST IN: The FEMA official who oversaw the reconstruction of Puerto Rico’s electrical grid after Hurricane Maria in 2017 has been arrested in connection with fraud and conspiracy charges." > Multithreaded.
- Ari Natter is an energy and environment reporter for Bloomberg.
Wait a minute... Wasn't Trump and Co. slamming Puerto Rico about all their corruption and blaming them for their poor relief efforts? You mean to tell me that he was projecting??
Wait a minute... Wasn't Trump and Co. slamming Puerto Rico about all their corruption and blaming them for their poor relief efforts? You mean to tell me that he was projecting??
The news today is that 17% of the population of the Bahamas is homeless. The homeless rate is normally very low. For reference, the population of the affected islands is about 17.5% of the population, so basically virtually everyone from those islands is now homeless.
The news today is that 17% of the population of the Bahamas is homeless. The homeless rate is normally very low. For reference, the population of the affected islands is about 17.5% of the population, so basically virtually everyone from those islands is now homeless.
Are there any credible reports on the number of missing/casualties yet? I've heard some 5th-hand rumors, but nothing I'd be comfortable posting in the thread.
a5ehren on
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MayabirdPecking at the keyboardRegistered Userregular
I think the Bahamas are still in "save the living" mode and don't have the resources to spare to tally the dead, which is normal. It's usually a month or more after a major disaster before death tolls really start getting worked on.
The news today is that 17% of the population of the Bahamas is homeless. The homeless rate is normally very low. For reference, the population of the affected islands is about 17.5% of the population, so basically virtually everyone from those islands is now homeless.
Are there any credible reports on the number of missing/casualties yet? I've heard some 5th-hand rumors, but nothing I'd be comfortable posting in the thread.
The current numbers are 50 confirmed dead and 2500 missing. There are a lot of rumors floating around of course.
The news today is that 17% of the population of the Bahamas is homeless. The homeless rate is normally very low. For reference, the population of the affected islands is about 17.5% of the population, so basically virtually everyone from those islands is now homeless.
Are there any credible reports on the number of missing/casualties yet? I've heard some 5th-hand rumors, but nothing I'd be comfortable posting in the thread.
The current numbers are 50 confirmed dead and 2500 missing. There are a lot of rumors floating around of course.
There's still hope that those missing are in shelters or GTFO:
FREEPORT, Bahamas (AP) — The Bahamas government says there are 2,500 people on its list of those missing after Hurricane Dorian. But the names have yet to be cross-checked against the lists of people evacuated from the devastated islands or staying in shelters.
That's the spaghetti models for Invest95 in the southern Bahamas. Thankfully it should just bring some rain to the Bahamas, but it is expected to strengthen into a tropical system soon.
The red track is the American model which has it beeline to New Orleans as a weak tropical system. The Blue track is the euro model which has it rapidly intensify as it follows Dorian up the east coast.
Veevee on
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EncA Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered Userregular
Its still way too early to tell on this one, but it likely will reach a depression by Saturday.
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AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
Please sputter out to sea, Invest95.
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MayabirdPecking at the keyboardRegistered Userregular
Even if Invest 95L doesn't become tropical storm/hurricane Humberto it is carrying a lot of moisture along with it and is already dropping a lot of rain in its wake. I can't imagine "dump even more drenching pouring rain on the Bahamas" being a good thing.
Luckily with it’s track only intensifying to a potential cyclone so close to land, I don’t really see it becoming more than some wind and and rain, except on the blue pine where it stays well out to sea
none of those models look very accurate. They all miss Alabama
I would laugh myself to death if alabama actually expierienced a near drought after trump's insistence that it would get hit.
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EncA Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered Userregular
Until a storm actually forms and you get some form of proper rotation, the spaghetti models just aren't really useful. If it stays as a depression it could hit the full range of that spread as just a front of rainy weather.
Until a storm actually forms and you get some form of proper rotation, the spaghetti models just aren't really useful. If it stays as a depression it could hit the full range of that spread as just a front of rainy weather.
Invest95 will get a visit from a hurricane hunter aircraft this afternoon. The data it collects should help focus the models a bit, even though the storm system isn't terribly organized yet.
Until a storm actually forms and you get some form of proper rotation, the spaghetti models just aren't really useful. If it stays as a depression it could hit the full range of that spread as just a front of rainy weather.
Invest95 will get a visit from a hurricane hunter aircraft this afternoon. The data it collects should help focus the models a bit, even though the storm system isn't terribly organized yet.
Until a storm actually forms and you get some form of proper rotation, the spaghetti models just aren't really useful. If it stays as a depression it could hit the full range of that spread as just a front of rainy weather.
Invest95 will get a visit from a hurricane hunter aircraft this afternoon. The data it collects should help focus the models a bit, even though the storm system isn't terribly organized yet.
Woah this is a thing?
I mean it sounds cooler than it is. Typically these aircraft fly into the storm and collect pressure / wind data both through onboard instruments and (I believe) dropped probes. They don't actually, like, attack the storm in any way.
Until a storm actually forms and you get some form of proper rotation, the spaghetti models just aren't really useful. If it stays as a depression it could hit the full range of that spread as just a front of rainy weather.
Invest95 will get a visit from a hurricane hunter aircraft this afternoon. The data it collects should help focus the models a bit, even though the storm system isn't terribly organized yet.
Woah this is a thing?
I mean it sounds cooler than it is. Typically these aircraft fly into the storm and collect pressure / wind data both through onboard instruments and (I believe) dropped probes. They don't actually, like, attack the storm in any way.
they do fun stuff like fly around the eye of the storms tho
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EncA Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered Userregular
Until a storm actually forms and you get some form of proper rotation, the spaghetti models just aren't really useful. If it stays as a depression it could hit the full range of that spread as just a front of rainy weather.
Invest95 will get a visit from a hurricane hunter aircraft this afternoon. The data it collects should help focus the models a bit, even though the storm system isn't terribly organized yet.
Woah this is a thing?
I mean it sounds cooler than it is. Typically these aircraft fly into the storm and collect pressure / wind data both through onboard instruments and (I believe) dropped probes. They don't actually, like, attack the storm in any way.
My dad was a meteorologist for the USAF so this kind of stuff is fascinating to me. I didn't mean to make it sound like I thought it literally attacked the hurricane lol.
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ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
Until a storm actually forms and you get some form of proper rotation, the spaghetti models just aren't really useful. If it stays as a depression it could hit the full range of that spread as just a front of rainy weather.
Invest95 will get a visit from a hurricane hunter aircraft this afternoon. The data it collects should help focus the models a bit, even though the storm system isn't terribly organized yet.
Woah this is a thing?
I mean it sounds cooler than it is. Typically these aircraft fly into the storm and collect pressure / wind data both through onboard instruments and (I believe) dropped probes. They don't actually, like, attack the storm in any way.
My dad was a meteorologist for the USAF so this kind of stuff is fascinating to me. I didn't mean to make it sound like I thought it literally attacked the hurricane lol.
Too bad. I was going to suggest you run for president.
MayabirdPecking at the keyboardRegistered Userregular
@Edith_Bagot-Dix How are the recovery efforts going in the Bahamas? It's fallen out of the news internationally due to...well, everything...but has there been any good news at least in the couple months since?
Posts
There are a few moving pieces to this. For instance, we at one point had to have an armed unit from the RBDF (aka "The Marines") come in because we had Haitian evacuees coming in with firearms and other weapons. We ran into a security issue as well because BTC (local telco) was giving out smartphones with prepaid data and there were people trying to come back through the processing center to score a free phone. I was mostly involved with baggage handling which was incredibly heartbreaking because you're dealing with who have everything they own now crammed into a garbage bag.
With regard to the cruise ships and the like, I'm not sure about the Florida side, but the ones in port in Nassau have no place to disembark their passengers to. Every shelter outside of some resort hotels is full. I have people in my office who have half a dozen or more people living in their home because there's no shelter available. This is on the island that itself didn't really get hit that badly.
On the flip side I'm getting photos from my parents in Nova Scotia with all the damage there. Huge tree down in front of their house that took out the power lines.
Also on Steam and PSN: twobadcats
Have I got the length and breadth of this down? Is there some other part of this I missed?
There was the sharpie thing I guess
Personally I think "fine with the status quo" is far less an issue than "Wholly indifferent to the bullshit that is American politics and I swear to fucking god if I have to listen to another right/left-wing asshole rant for an hour I will just straight up murder everyone" combined with "What the fuck is a 'status quo?'"
We do a terrible job at teaching civics in this country and an even worse job at teaching why civic awareness and participation is important.
While I can't speak to any other country, in Australia they do the same regarding teaching civics and civic awareness.
If not for several factors (compulsory voting, de-politicization of voting infrastructure, easy access early voting, Saturday elections, and social eventing the day with democracy sausages), I do think Australia wouldn't be too far off the American model, and could quite possibly be worse, as the two parties aren't THAT far apart in ideology (compared to the US), so passion of the base isn't as much.
Our parties are the same because we don't have FPTP voting, and so they both have to play the middle.
Or at least, so I thought, until the Liberals won after the right wing decapitated the party.
Not going to go into this in detail in the hurricane thread, but Scott's victories had a lot more to do with local politics than disenfranchisement and his governance of the state, while not particularly great, was generally positive for a lot of people. Scott did a lot of good for a lot of powerful industries here and actually campaigned, while Bill Nelson rested on his laurels from the last 20 years of coasting along on his decaying Space Coast backing and, as pretty much everyone predicted, lost handily when he refused to campaign or reach out to anyone under 60 years old. Had literally any new Democrat candidate ran in his stead, Scott would have been defeated handily. Add in that Scott had just become the first US republican governor to pass gun restriction legislation after Parkland, he had a lot of positives to campaign on that were fresh in voters minds. Florida voters along the coast saw Scott as the governor that stopped oil drilling on our coastlines. Voters in the cities saw him as the one person who was willing to do something about gun violence here. Voters in the rural areas and locked to tourism industries saw him as a huge supporter of Big Sugar and the theme parks (which he absolutely was).
Voters saw Bill Nelson as an out-of-touch relic of the 60s who hadn't really done much in recent years to connect him back to his supporters. I voted for Nelson, because the larger context is what matters to me, but that's not true for a lot of folks here. Plenty of good people voted for Scott for good reasons.
That doesn't change the fact that he went on to vote lockstep with McConnel and supports Trump's agenda, but politics are a lot more complicated than good versus evil.
Hope you and yours come out of this ok Edith
What do folks need the most over there, from your view? Aside from access to safe places to evacuate to?
I would say safe space, generators, and then insulin and other diabetic supplies are probably the highest on the list. The Nassau power grid was overtaxed (to the extent that there is regular unscheduled load shedding at least once a week, including to the point of turning off ) and is now even more so. Cooling (requiring electricity) is a huge issue for evacuees as they are in spaces like gymnasiums that aren't set up for human habitation on this climate. Additionally, the Bahamas has a huge rate of diabetes (about 10% of the population - the rate is a couple of points higher than the U.S.) and a lot of people left their insulin and other supplies behind.
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Bad is that there was apparently significant fraud and corruption in the aftermath.
Good is that the perpetrators are being called to account.
"JUST IN: The FEMA official who oversaw the reconstruction of Puerto Rico’s electrical grid after Hurricane Maria in 2017 has been arrested in connection with fraud and conspiracy charges." > Multithreaded.
- Ari Natter is an energy and environment reporter for Bloomberg.
(sarcasm, btw)
Also on Steam and PSN: twobadcats
Are there any credible reports on the number of missing/casualties yet? I've heard some 5th-hand rumors, but nothing I'd be comfortable posting in the thread.
The current numbers are 50 confirmed dead and 2500 missing. There are a lot of rumors floating around of course.
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There's still hope that those missing are in shelters or GTFO:
But holy shit
Edit: Source dated today: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/2500-people-on-bahamas-missing-persons-list-from-hurricane-dorian
That's the spaghetti models for Invest95 in the southern Bahamas. Thankfully it should just bring some rain to the Bahamas, but it is expected to strengthen into a tropical system soon.
The red track is the American model which has it beeline to New Orleans as a weak tropical system. The Blue track is the euro model which has it rapidly intensify as it follows Dorian up the east coast.
I would laugh myself to death if alabama actually expierienced a near drought after trump's insistence that it would get hit.
Good (ish) news! It's already happening.
https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?Southeast
Invest95 will get a visit from a hurricane hunter aircraft this afternoon. The data it collects should help focus the models a bit, even though the storm system isn't terribly organized yet.
Woah this is a thing?
I mean it sounds cooler than it is. Typically these aircraft fly into the storm and collect pressure / wind data both through onboard instruments and (I believe) dropped probes. They don't actually, like, attack the storm in any way.
they do fun stuff like fly around the eye of the storms tho
https://www.omao.noaa.gov/learn/aircraft-operations/about/hurricane-hunters
My dad was a meteorologist for the USAF so this kind of stuff is fascinating to me. I didn't mean to make it sound like I thought it literally attacked the hurricane lol.
Too bad. I was going to suggest you run for president.