Open Thread - 09-27-24 - Landfall
As you read this my wife and I will be on our way to the gorgeous white sand and blue waters of Gulf Shores, Alabama.
We really lucked out on this one. Gulf Shores is just a hop, skip and a jump from Hurricane Helene's landfall in the panhandle of Florida. I hope those folks over there in the Big Bend area will be OK. Helene was a Cat. 4 when it hit the shore, it's a big one.
The area east of the hurricane is getting hammered as well. There's massive rain and wind over Florida, and it will move up into Georgia and the Appalachians. To the west of the hurricane, where Gulf Shores is, will be pretty calm and quiet. Like I said, we really got lucky on this one, a little wobble to the west and our vacation will have been much different, as in nonexistent.
It was a nail biter all week tracking the hurricane and it's a relief that we get to go, but at the same time we feel guilty in our pleasure knowing what those folks are going through just a short distance away. A hurricane, Beryl, went right over the top of us in Southeast Texas a few months ago. It made landfall south of Houston as a Cat. 1 hurricane and by the time it went over us it was just a tropical storm, but that was bad enough. There was flooding, trees down everywhere and we were without electricity for 6 days. That, I'm sure, is nothing compared to what folks are going through beneath Helene.
Hopefully everyone got to high ground.
More below the fold.
I'm writing this late Thursday night, I've been so busy today preparing for the trip I didn't have time to write up anything substantial so I'll just ask a question of you all. Answer if you like or just comment on whatever strikes your fancy.
There's another big wind a blowin'.
Do you think the Constitution and the Bill of Rights will survive the next few years? Or maybe even the next few months?
If not, how will that come about? How does that happen? It blows me away that it's even a topic of discussion.
I'm well aware that many of our rights have already been eroded over the past several decades, but the big one, the First Amendment is under assault from both the right and the left. Will it survive?
Where are we, as a country, going with this? Will we survive this onslaught on the Constitution, as a nation?
We try to make it to Gulf Shores at least once a year. One of our favorite haunts is Lulu's. Lulu happens to be Jimmy Buffet's sister.
Jimmy Buffet: Tryin' to Reason with Hurricane Season
Comments
Good morning Free Rangers...
we should be rolling in about 5 o'clock or so. I'll catch up with you all then.
Good luck on your eastern voyage
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hope you remembered to pack
your swimmies
surfs up!
truth is considered foreign influence, world peace is a threat to national security
Safe travels...
We were thrilled to get about 3" of rain last night. We were so dry most of it soaked in. We only have a couple of puddles on the road, and no wash...it surprised me.
Enjoy your beach stay!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Oh my, heh, heh, heh, First, have a great, safe and
enjoyable trip and vacation.
Will the constitution and bill of rights survive? Have they? A resounding not really.The bill of rights is all but dead, but we get by with what's left because we never worry about what we've lost. This is also true of the Constitution to a significant degree, but we still get by, and very likely will somehow continue to do so.
The Constitution does not give the Supremes the power of judicial review. That was usurped by Justice Marshall through clever political blackmail. The government would not have survived the Judiciary Act of 1789 had not the legislative and executive branches turned a blind eye upon that power grab.
The Constitution does not provide for a central bank, and certainly not a private one, to perform any and all of the functions of the Fed, and its creation arguably violates the Constitution.
The importation onto these shores of the Corporation was decried and bemoaned by many of the nation's seminal political thinkers and giving them the degree of personhood that they have acquired would've been anathema.
Political parties are not really provided for, and especially not a 2 party system. Many seminal thinkers were very displeased to see parties arise.
Standing armies? Bad. Military engagements without a declaration of war? Unthinkable. Full on wars without a declaration of war from Congress, ditto.
Bribery and corruption institutionalized by declaring them to be "speech", laughable. These are just examples, the "republic" anticipated by the drafters is long dead, replaced by a corporatocratic oligarchy.
The first amendment isn't the last to fall, it was arguably the first, though that honor may belong to the tenth. Congress shall make NO LAW, (though, of course, the Supremes seem to think that they can, and thanx to Marshall, to some extent, they can). Freedom of religion fell almost immediately, and it has survived only in fragments. Much the same is true of speech and the press. Slander, Libel, Obscenity, government sekrets and more have whittled away at both speech and the press. Will what's left survive? That depends on how jaundiced your view of what's left is?
Be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Outstanding summation, EL
I could not have said it better myself. You hit on most of the points of where we went wrong.
Right from the get go, from Independance Day forward, a cadre of traitors have worked to destroy the power of the citizenry of America.
Gotta hand it to the French, they knew how to take care of business. But they ultimately let their guard down and let the ghouls back into power.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
The obsolete constitution
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I'm curious.
If the American people had all their 'rights' restored right now — what do you suppose they would do with them that could improve the degrading situation of the nation?
The majority of the People would still be hopelessly brainwashed and misinformed. And the non-competitive, monetary greed of the corporate monopolies and the institutional corruption of the government-subsidized industries would still be impoverishing the People and lobbying against their long-term survival and upward mobility.
The obsolete and incomplete Constitution would still be exploited by the twisted theology of the Supreme Court, which is exactly how the nation arrived where we are right now. Be careful what you wish for.
If only we could restore the IQ points of the American public that were lost over the past fifty years of dumbing down.... then we'd be talking. But we're just going to have to wait for them to die off and be replaced. Meanwhile, we're stuck with their their gullible voting, because.... democracy.
In the Meantime....
Calling all Psychopaths! Common down to DC. You're going to love it here. There are high-paying government jobs with major perks just waiting for Psychopaths to fill them. No tell-tale brain scans required. This is your time to shine in the US of A!
Populations don’t like wars. They have to be lied into it.
That means we can be “truthed” into peace. — Julian Assange
Hurricane update
Where I live was not affected much. Just on the outskirts of the hurricane. All we got was a whole lot of rain. There were reports of a few minor power outages and it seems like no one can drive in the rain, as there were multiple accidents, more than usual.
Gulf Shores and Orange Beach in Alabama are nice areas. People don't realize that although Alabama has very little coastline, they have not commercialized it like the Florida panhandle has. I know several people who will go there for vacation as opposed to the Destin/Sandestin area, even though it's so much closer.
(No subject)
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Bibi at the UN.
The Pentagon has a new spokesman.
Landfill
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get ya some gumbo with a touch of hot sauce zydeco
truth is considered foreign influence, world peace is a threat to national security
Have a good time, JtC
Get well rested. Things are starting to really heat up and you'll need all your faculties running on all cylinders when you get back. I'll try to lighten the load.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Something that is on the less serious side.
If you ever wonder what happens to the US aid to Ukraine ?
Here is a hint.