Awesome link.

I totally bookmarked that one.

Good to "see you" Charles Brown, Esq. :)

2017 DONALD TRUMP WAS BRIEFLY HERE. HE STAYED MOSTLY OUT OF THE WAY

I actually think Trump played it correctly on that one to just stay out of the way. Just like every other president, he would take criticism regardless... damned if he did or didn't, like CW said.

Thanks. I'm playing catch up today. Dropped my friends back in Houston this weekend and headed home today. Dang, what a mess, but they were lucky. They were told that the houses two blocks over were underwater by up to about 4 feet, but their home is at the top of the "hill," more like just an incline IMO. On their block, the lawns were soaked, but no damage to the interiors at all.

Seems like everyone down there has a story. If I lived down there, my story would be: "I am moving as fast as I can get my stuff in order." :)

Right now, the only kinds of walls Texas needs are flood walls. I'm sure that point will be made in the upcoming debate!

Yep. Apparently there were no building regulations, and Trump recently rolled back a lot of regulations Obama had enacted that are now going to have to be rolled back in; spending billions to rebuild otherwise makes no sense.

If Trump does one thing right in his presidency, let it be this. Even if I wasn't in the immediate vicinity, I'd wish for success with this kind of disaster relief.

Yes, please.

Glad you're okay, but what a mess all around you. Houston area needs better drainage system; these floods aren't stopping any time soon. Good luck down there.

https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/250hPa/orthographic=-83.67,30.14,1308/loc=-66.458,29.594

Wow, that is an awesome link.

Awesome link.

That's an avenue I decided I didn't really want to go down just now.

Economic equilibria from Corpus to Staten Island have been disrupted. It's never certain, in non-linear systems, if a post-shock equilibrium will be the same as the ex-ante state.

Since the total net full cost of this event is going to be more than a half trillion dollars, some of those equilibrium states are never going to come back.

In this case, I really doubt that some of them can even recover. The complacency among the public and the markets is fascinating to watch, but hardly unique, and independent of scale; think, e.g., Titanic.

Now there's another one on the way. The jet pattern, unless it shifts in the next 5 days, will put Irma over the Gulf side of Florida. And the steering high evident in this view, currently persisting in place, is why that's a possibility.

https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/250hPa/orthographic=-83.67,30.14,1308/loc=-66.458,29.594

That earlier discussion of climate change effects wasn't theoretical, data based, nor futuristic. The ice is gone, the pole-equator temperature gradient is diminished, and as should be increasingly clear, this is now an ongoing economic and political concern. Starting last Friday.

Seeing photos and video today showing a highway covered in water that's actually got waves and white caps. Surreal.

As is always the case, there are heroes popping up all over, rescuing people and pets, as Kick described. Inspiring.

FDR for one.

In the present situation, he would have personally driven a boat down a flooded street, shaken local hands at a shelter, and turned on couple of pumps... all the while concealing the fact he couldn't really walk.

Don and Melania were dressed like they were going to a Hampton's weekend. This was a clear signal that no distressed commoners would be encouraged or even encountered. This was a Trump Organization marketing trip. Ball Cap, online, 40 bucks. At least he didn't pimp $50 Trump bottled water.

Trump is a hollow, distant man. You either like that or you don't.

If a plaque is ever put on a wall to commemorate this processional it should read:

2017 DONALD TRUMP WAS BRIEFLY HERE. HE STAYED MOSTLY OUT OF THE WAY

Kick [4] Pertinent point. Right now, the only kinds of walls Texas needs are flood walls. I'm sure that point will be made in the upcoming debate!

Bleyd [5] Maybe if it's presented to him as a series of construction projects, it might hold his attention.

A 2minute man, with an incomplete and feuding staff, who is distracted by legal problems and unable to reign in a disaffected Congress meets up with a mega natural disaster that is going to take years and many, many billions of $$$ to clean up. Trump's prospects don't look too good.

Yep.

I have an idea for Benedict Donald: Screw the wall... build Texas.

I seem to be missing a tall, invisible rabbit.

Is he heading in your direction by any chance?

Actually, I was headed in his direction. I ventured South to help in the efforts to get ready for the storm, and then I swung by Houston on the way home Friday and convinced some friends to self-evacuate... gave them the old "better safe than sorry" speech and managed to cajole them out of there by promising them multiple rounds of margaritas and steak. They finally relented and came home with me, which was a good thing too because I was simply not taking "no" for an answer.

Made steaks and a few rounds of margaritas on Saturday and watched the mess on television for awhile. Then we decided we just couldn't take it sitting around and watching so we headed back down to volunteer to help get others out.

I am gobsmacked at the mess down there; it is surreal. We rescued lots of dogs, a few cats, humans... only got bit by one of them (dog). There are so many volunteers down there now that we decided to head home... exhausted. Oh, those poor people; some of them have lost everything. Can't tell you how many times I've choked back tears listening to their stories. The one thing so many of them have in common is having nowhere to go. Their cars are flooded; their homes are gone. Okay... enough about that.

Me and my guests are back home now and making margaritas. They think their home is still dry (on the inside) but not at all certain; they did find out there are homes flooded only a half mile away from theirs. I heard that at home we got rain on and off for about a day and a half from the outer bands, but we're dry and beautiful weather now. Pardon my language, but that rabbit bastard needs to die, die, die already... over 50 inches of rain in places and still falling.

I'm seriously sick of water, but curiously the thing I want to do is take my margarita and pool float and drift aimlessly around on my back whilst staring upward. Anyone who touches me loses a hand; I've warned them. How long until that total eclipse? I've got front row seats.

Bleyd and Kick

Hope you are both well.

Thanks, Punk. I'm fine, but I'm exhausted and do need a drink... oh, looky there at the end of my arm, I've got one. :)

I think DT is in a damned if he does/doesn't box far more because he's generated so much bad blood in so many quarters, and has been seen to be "insincere" so often, that almost anything he does is viewed with suspicion and skepticism. It doesn't help that he's such a media hound and so bad at expressing sympathy/empathy, because he ends up looking like he's there for the photo-ops and nothing else. (Which is probably the case.)