Misery Index
Y’all, Anna the Geek sent me this link early this morning to let me know I am not the only one having misery.
The White House communications team’s rapid response director, 31-year-old Andy Hemming, resigned on Monday. National news outlets probably knew him best as “that guy who tried to find positive news stories about Trump.”
This isn’t an uncommon role, but Hemming’s job reportedly included delivering a folder full of positive news articles twice a day to Trump. According to Politico, Hemming was paid “$89,000 a year to spot and distribute positive stories from the mainstream media.” He worked from 5:30AM to 11PM every weekday.
That poor guy could come to Houston to vacation this week and think it’s an improvement over his past job.
I am fine, and I tend to feel a little guilty about that. My friends and neighbors in the path of Harvey are not so good. I know the word catastrophic is overused right now, but I don’t know a better one. This is Katrina. People are on the roofs of their homes, big fancy two story homes included. Hospitals are packed and the largest trauma center (Ben Taub) has backed-up septic system. Even outside of the flooding, the roads are not holding up well. This is the road I take to the grocery store.
This is why they are telling people to stay home if they can.
It will take Houston years to recover. On the plus side, we have a good mayor and county judge. We also have a sense of humor and a whole lot of guys with flat bottom boats who just live for this so they can go rescue people.
All the best to you, JJ. Stay safe. I wonder how long it will take Pat Robertson to attribute this storm to God’s vengeance on “the gays” and women who have abortions…
1JJ, try not to feel guilty about being okay. Those who are okay can offer help to those who aren’t, or at least they’re not giving more work to the emergency crews and other helpers. It’s a comfort to the rest of us to know that you and Bubba are safe.
2I hope you had enough groceries at home JJ.
When the ground becomes saturated, the runoff water can more easily loosen and carry infrastructure along with it, as floodwaters attempt to drain somewhere. The soil is unstable, like a bowl of Jello before it completely sets. Place some chopsticks in the Jello (vertically) and they can fall over. Put a fork in it, and it’s not just over, it sinks.
Let’s hope over the next week the rain, the rivers, and channels have somewhere to go, and especially that the winds stay calm for the sake of the power lines.
Best wishes to everyone in East Texas.
3I noticed that Amtrak cancelled the Sunset Limited that runs through Houston. Not sure if it’s damaged tracks or just the weather.
4It’s a tall order, Ms. JuanitaJean Herownself, but try to relax and get some rest. When this Frankenstorm has passed, you will be more than beyond busy. It is then that your superlative organizational and communication skills will be most needed and take you way beyond exhaustion assisting your fellow Texans. Please don’t be shy about asking for our assistance to help you with whatever of the load we can help you carry then and now. Love and peace from Nevada!
#We’reAllTexansNow
5We’re glad to hear you’re doing OK, JJ!
You’ll find a way to share your good fortune with the ones not so lucky.
6The trauma center has a backed up septic system? The trauma center? Not on public sewage? WTF? Houston… you have a oroblem.
7Don’t mean to be pissy above, but this is a big priblem in our country. I call it “sunshine planning”. Making decisions for infrastructure abd city planning as if everyday is sunshine and light breezes. It rains. It gets ungodly hot. And one should plan for those eventualities. Just because a major storm hits TX every dozen years or so is no excuse for not considering them when designing building. Disney does it in FL. Their building standards exceed local and state. In 2004, two hurricanes crisscrossed the state passing within 10 miles or less of Disney. They shrugged it off and were up and running within hours. We need to do better.
8Stay safe and dry, JJ. To put it selfishly, I don’t think I can make it through the Trump catastrophe without you to make me smile.
9Sending you good karma fro PA.
10Google this article:
Hurricane Harvey: How to help victims of the Texas storm
1) Donate money, not “stuff”, if you can. Red Cross, Salvation Army, Catholic Charities-these groups have tons of experience w these situations. SPCAs and other rescue pet shelters or children’s groups (hospitals, diaper banks, etc) if you are so inclined.
2) Donate blood. Existing supplies may be compromised by power failure and there is always a need.
3) There are a couple of crowdfunding efforts going on, if you are inclined to do that sort of thing. Numbers in article.
4) Stay tuned. As the waters recede and the snakes n gators come out and the damage becomes clear (yes, it will be overwhelming!) there will be more opportunities to help, and maybe then “stuff” will be needed, as well as able bodies with kind hearts.
11We all are glad that you and yours have survived. Some of us may even mourn for those who did not.
At some point in the near future, will you open the beauty shop to those of us who would just like to raise the questions of when it comes to living on the Texas coast, what the hell do you expect? People who build fancy homes on Mustang and other barrier island generally will get exactly what they deserve for being so ignorant of history. And of course, they probably contribute to a rise in insurance premiums for the rest of us. I heard a commentator this past week talking about how there has been very little attention paid to the things that should have been learned from Katrina, but have not. In a few years, after a few more hurricanes, we will hear the experts and scientists bemoaning the fact that nobody seems to understand that there will be more Harveys and Katrinas in the future. Sure, it is hard to argue with a Harvey or Katrina, but even smaller storms will tear houses and office buildings and roads out of places where they shouldn’t have been built in the first place.
12Hugs, Juanita. I wish I could be out helping the folks too but it would be stupid for me to do that. You just let your little light shine. Everyone needs it/you. I know, send money. Others can see what needs doing where they are. I remember after Katrina, tons of folks showed up to stay in the convention center in Austin. Our current mayor at the time spent all night pushing carts of dirty linens and clothes across the street to the laundry room at the hotel. City agencies, like the library, encouraged workers to go read to the children and play games with them. And pretty soon, the main thing the refugees needed was money, housing and jobs. Many of them stayed here.
13Hugs to you and yours, JJ. Stay safe.
14JJ: Can I remind all that, along with the humans threatened and killed, a lot of ‘four-legged people’ both feline and canine are in distress, and less likely to get priority during emergency triage. There are, I believe, several organizations working to help them, and rather than just mention the one I saw in HULLABALOO, I’ll ask you if you know of a reliable one from there on the ground — err, could put that better.
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And on a relevant extreme triviality, I have an additional minor regret. I had been planning to ask you how the ;Replacement Mets’ looked live next week, but it looks like the games will be moved.
And of course, hugs and best wishes to you people at the salon, but both the chairs and the people in them are simply unsinkable.
16Thoughts, prayers, and some $$ aimed at the various agencies doing the helping since I’m still somewhat stove up and can’t do much myself. Roads collapsing over rushing water–it happens, and in some soils there’s not enough planning in the universe to keep everything sound. Sorry it’s between you and the grocery store, but I’ll bet you had enough stockpiled for several weeks. Funny how some people want to help and others want to scold those having problems for having them. (Though I do think people who build big fancy homes on barrier islands shouldn’t expect a whole lot of sympathy…that’s where you put beach shacks on pilings, if anything. We used to camp on South Padre–a tarp on poles–and when we went home there was nothing a storm could harm left there to turn into debris.)
Easy to say now nobody should’ve built on the prairie-wetlands…but they did, and the people who live there weren’t the ones to buy the land and “develop” it. (When I was at college in Houston, in the ’60s, that foolishness was really getting going and yeah, lots of people said it was stupid, but developers said “$$$ talks louder and $$$ is smart. Who really cares about migratory waterfowl anyway? And rice, who eats it?”)
Y’all down there have my sincere sympathy and I’ll do what I can.
17Glad to know you’re safe, JJ. Stay that way, k?
My brother lives in Houston. I phoned him yesterday. He told me there had been scattered tornadoes in the area and he was out driving — and no one else was. Cuz they’re all smarter than he is. Folks who grew up in Missouri don’t take hurricane-embedded-tornadoes seriously. So my brother was out in his car. During a hurricane. Because of course he was.
I sincerely hope he isn’t among those in need of rescue — but I’m not a betting person.
18Harvey was Katrina on steroids. All of you coastal Texans must be the toughest, most courageous people on earth. I don’t think I could do anywhere as well as you all do if I were in the same circumstances. God bless you all.
19Thank you, Elizabeth. It’s going to be a long haul.
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