My 2 cousins and their families in Florida weathered the storm well. One family stayed put in his house about an hr north of Tampa and 20 miles inland. The eye came near, but they didn’t even loose power. I’ve seen his video on FB, and all is intact. Other cousin goes back to the farm today. Hope the cows are still there. :–/
I look for FEMA to be busy, and Congress to be cooperative, and Trump to be….the best of Trump. :–)
This thread is hardly worth the effort anymore.
I am ashamed to admit it, but I have been somewhat thankful for Harvey and Irma because at least CNN has something to talk about other than impeaching Trump.
Now, now, Kim, don’t be fainthearted. Any thread can be rescued. I think that’s well documented. :–) But seriously, disconnecting the cable does wonders for your mental health. Husband is a bit of a news junkie, and our work necessitates keeping up with certain areas, but fortunately for me, his interests are not mainstream for the most part, so he’s content with reading and listening to youtube while he works. AJ and Ricky and DJ and the others who comment regularly here challenge me to keep up with more mainstream issues from different perspectives. And if things get a little testy from time to time, just kick the offender in the shins as a friendly reminder. We bounce back nicely. :–)
Let us remember another very significant 9/11 today…
The fifth anniversary of the terrorist attack in Benghazi — September 11th, 2012 — that resulted in the deaths of four Americans: Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, Information Officer Sean Smith, and former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty & Tyrone Woods.
Interesting thought; high school students have no personal memory of 9/11.
Hurricane lessons; will coastal cities learn the value of wet lands? Houston and other cities have drained wet lands to build suburbs. Hopefully they don’t rebuild these suburbs. Coastal areas need barrier islands, wet land and other natural structures to absorb hurricanes and other storms.
From the second link (I don’t know how to do block quotes on here, but the next two paragraphs are quotes):
NFIP embraced a “flood-rebuild-repeat” model that has spawned an almost $25 billion debt. The National Wildlife Federation estimated in 1998 that 2% of properties covered by federal flood insurance had multiple damage claims accounting for 40% of flood insurance outlays, and that more than 5,000 homes had repeat claims exceeding their property value. A recent Pew Charitable Trust study revealed that 1% of the 5 million properties insured have produced almost a third of the damage claims and half the debt. . . .
The Washington Post recently reported that a house “outside Baton Rouge, valued at $55,921, has flooded 40 times over the years, amassing $428,379 in claims. A $90,000 property near the Mississippi River north of St. Louis has flooded 34 times, racking up claims of more than $608,000.”
Wandering Views 
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Merkel is intelligent, sane and an adult. That gives her an advantage when it comes to leadership.
http://www.politico.eu/article/angela-merkel-europe-needs-coherent-foreign-policy/
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Because of Angela Merkel’s stance on immigrants (at least the one she held a couple of years ago), Germans are now throwing tomatos at her.
It’s not even possible to have a common EU foreign policy – too many competing interests.
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OK, we’ve just been through a major hurricane, and the news thread is still political squabbling?
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My 2 cousins and their families in Florida weathered the storm well. One family stayed put in his house about an hr north of Tampa and 20 miles inland. The eye came near, but they didn’t even loose power. I’ve seen his video on FB, and all is intact. Other cousin goes back to the farm today. Hope the cows are still there. :–/
I look for FEMA to be busy, and Congress to be cooperative, and Trump to be….the best of Trump. :–)
LikeLiked by 2 people
I thought the big news was the Miss America pageant and college football.
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This thread is hardly worth the effort anymore.
I am ashamed to admit it, but I have been somewhat thankful for Harvey and Irma because at least CNN has something to talk about other than impeaching Trump.
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Now, now, Kim, don’t be fainthearted. Any thread can be rescued. I think that’s well documented. :–) But seriously, disconnecting the cable does wonders for your mental health. Husband is a bit of a news junkie, and our work necessitates keeping up with certain areas, but fortunately for me, his interests are not mainstream for the most part, so he’s content with reading and listening to youtube while he works. AJ and Ricky and DJ and the others who comment regularly here challenge me to keep up with more mainstream issues from different perspectives. And if things get a little testy from time to time, just kick the offender in the shins as a friendly reminder. We bounce back nicely. :–)
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@10:19 Is the Miss America pageant going on right now? On 9/11? I wasn’t aware, but I’m sure Fox has it covered on all fronts…and angles. :–)
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Let us remember another very significant 9/11 today…
The fifth anniversary of the terrorist attack in Benghazi — September 11th, 2012 — that resulted in the deaths of four Americans: Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, Information Officer Sean Smith, and former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty & Tyrone Woods.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Interesting thought; high school students have no personal memory of 9/11.
Hurricane lessons; will coastal cities learn the value of wet lands? Houston and other cities have drained wet lands to build suburbs. Hopefully they don’t rebuild these suburbs. Coastal areas need barrier islands, wet land and other natural structures to absorb hurricanes and other storms.
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HRW, this is a good article showing that Houston was a problem waiting to happen (actually a continuing problem): http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-harvey-engineering-20170828-story.html
And this shows that showing government money at known problems isn’t a very good solution: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/09/01/harvey-proves-flood-subsidies-must-end-james-bovard-column/619926001/
From the second link (I don’t know how to do block quotes on here, but the next two paragraphs are quotes):
NFIP embraced a “flood-rebuild-repeat” model that has spawned an almost $25 billion debt. The National Wildlife Federation estimated in 1998 that 2% of properties covered by federal flood insurance had multiple damage claims accounting for 40% of flood insurance outlays, and that more than 5,000 homes had repeat claims exceeding their property value. A recent Pew Charitable Trust study revealed that 1% of the 5 million properties insured have produced almost a third of the damage claims and half the debt. . . .
The Washington Post recently reported that a house “outside Baton Rouge, valued at $55,921, has flooded 40 times over the years, amassing $428,379 in claims. A $90,000 property near the Mississippi River north of St. Louis has flooded 34 times, racking up claims of more than $608,000.”
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