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
-
hope you remembered to pack
your swimmies
surfs up!
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
.
.
What difference would it make?
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. The non-competitive, monetary greed of the corporate monopolies, and the institutional corruption of the government-subsidized industries, would still be asset-stripping the People and lobbying against their long-term survival and upward mobility.
The obsolete and incomplete (missing modern rules that government must follow) US Constitution would continue to be exploited by the political self-interest of the Supreme Court, which is exactly how the nation arrived where we are at right now. Be careful what you wish for.
If only we could restore the IQ points that the American public has lost over the past fifty years of their institutional dumbing down.... then we'd be talking. But instead, we are forced to wait for the intellectually compromised to die off and be replaced by fresh generations. In the meantime, we are stuck with their gullible, misinformed voting, because.... democracy.
Meanwhile....
Calling all Psychopaths! Come on 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 stir the pot in the US of A!
[edit=typos]
I don't think I could have expressed this any better.
IMAGINE if you woke up the day after a US Presidential Election and headlines around the the world blared, "The Majority of Americans Refused to Vote in US Presidential Election! What Does this Mean?"
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.
Glad to hear you weathered the storm.
It is pure hell to slog through the traffic in Baton Rouge and Mobile. Then, you get into the condo, sit on the balcony and get mesmerized by the waves and birds...what bad traffic?
I do want to give Orange Beach a closer look, but this perfectly meets every need, OB would have to be really spectacular.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
(No subject)
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
Bibi at the UN.
The Pentagon has a new spokesman.
No one at the UN has any balls
It’s investigating Israel for genocide and it recently told them to vacate Gaza and the West Bank and yet Bibi gets to give a speech about how many countries he’s going to take to make greater Israel.
Israel flattened 6-10 buildings in Beirut and killed hundreds if not thousands of civilians. Boy I sure hope people enjoyed his speech because every one of them are accessories to genocide and crimes against humanity.
Ahh well, maybe Hezbollah will fly another couple of rockets into Israel and hit some open fields.
In the middle of a dense city. This isn’t war. It’s slaughter and plain murder.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
Yup…this
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
Also too
That’s 2 9-11's, but no one in government will condemn this fcking attack! We destroyed the Middle East when it happened to us!
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
Israel has no defense against Iran's
....hypersonic weapons. For better or worse, Iran refuses to develop nuclear weapons, so any conflict between the two still comes down to conventional weapons. Israel is woefully outgunned, however, unless it can drag a superpower into a regional war.
Until recently, Iran never had an answer for that type of escalation. Lately, however, the brilliant psychopaths running the US have been threatening to attack both Russia and China. This has created instant superpower-allies for Iran — allies who now realize they must come to Iran's defense for their own best interests.
IMAGINE if you woke up the day after a US Presidential Election and headlines around the the world blared, "The Majority of Americans Refused to Vote in US Presidential Election! What Does this Mean?"
Good catch Snoopy
I do have a problem with the man's abject fear of China, and that Russia and China beiing bffs is a danger to us is strange.
Why would the US feel good about 2 nuclear powers being enemies? Fallout knows no bounds.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I have no idea
No one will win an all out nuclear war. But maybe that’s what humanity deserves after thousands of years of war and bloodshed. I’d rather gawd sent another flood so maybe some animals can survive.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
The Psychopathc Capitalists controlling the US
....have a deranged belief that all these conflicts are a desperate struggle between Communism and Capitalism. (In the abstract, they are probably right. There can be no global peace or progress with maniacs hoarding the planetary wealth.)
The Psychopaths RedLine is that it's better for humanity to be DEAD than to be RED.
IMAGINE if you woke up the day after a US Presidential Election and headlines around the the world blared, "The Majority of Americans Refused to Vote in US Presidential Election! What Does this Mean?"
Landfill
.
get ya some gumbo with a touch of hot sauce zydeco
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.
I'm going to guess
...that a hell of a lot of people are stress-aged after those presidents are done, as well.
IMAGINE if you woke up the day after a US Presidential Election and headlines around the the world blared, "The Majority of Americans Refused to Vote in US Presidential Election! What Does this Mean?"
If you ever wonder what happens to the US aid to Ukraine ?
Here is a hint.
The best way to move money
...(or biological organisms and blood samples) from Ukraine to their final destination is by diplomatic pouch.
IMAGINE if you woke up the day after a US Presidential Election and headlines around the the world blared, "The Majority of Americans Refused to Vote in US Presidential Election! What Does this Mean?"
there used to be a hostess here
.
believe she used the handle Can't Stop (some) signal
who really dug the Allman Brothers Band
heard this and made me think of escaping the asylum
dedicated to her fine work, wonder where she got off to?
in dedication to her work here lest we forget
Can'tt Stop the Macedonian Signal
No clue where she is, and I didn't have a clue she was all in for the Allman Brothers.
Some song of theirs is in my head all the time.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981