I’m sitting here watching the FEMA morning briefing on Hurricane Irma with Grinning Tom Price and director Brock Long while they are speaking of 8,000 FEMA employees advance deployed and commodities (food, water, medicine) staged from Florida to North Carolina.  They’re speaking of evacuating electricity dependent medical patients, evacuation routes, and other issues that professionals discuss preparing for landfall of major hurricane.

Over the last several weeks, elected officials in Texas and Florida have actually conducted themselves as adults, taking responsibility and using their authority (and government coffers) to serve their constituents.  The weakest person I’ve seen is Greg Abbott who has played a very small role compared to Houston mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris Country judge Ed Emmett, staying pretty much in the background, showing up only to suck up to Cheeto Jesus while he grandstanded during his two brief and embarrassing appearances here in Texas.

Speaking of embarrassing, Donald Trump. His performance during his cringe-inducing visits (accompanied by his wife impersonating Michael Jackson in those silly caps and shades) were nothing short of embarrassing.  Thank God he left to go play golf immediately after instructing shelter victims to “have a great time”.

I digress – what’s really struck me during these events is how Trump administration appointments and elected officials are bringing the force of government to bear to serve its residents.  Trump has already proposed, and the Congress is virtually certain to approve, an initial $8 billion relief appropriation.  Local, state, and federal officials are working together to save lives and shelter victims of the recent storms.  FEMA has been on the ground in Houston since initial rains started and is processing over 300,000 funding applications already filed.

The difference between these responses and the disaster during Katrina 12 years ago is striking; today government is being proactive rather than passive as it was during that crisis where local, state, and federal governments were simply incompetent and totally unprepared.  The current response is strikingly different – in general, politics have been set aside by elected officials to get help to Americans.  There’s none of the nonsense about “compassionate conservatism” which created the shameful Katrina response.  It looks to me that government is pretty much working as it should – for the good of society.

The collective power of people working together using the resources available to soften the blow of catastrophes like Harvey and Irma is how advanced societies are supposed to function.  Government money and resources help; individual citizens volunteering is key; law enforcement and firefighting agencies must galvanize to serve.  In short, this is how it’s supposed to work.  Libertarian ideology goes out the window because it simply doesn’t work.  Radical right wing ideology goes with it because no person is an island.  In short, during crisis, everyone is a socialist working for the collective good.  That’s how society is supposed to work.

Republican Congressman Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania is pro-life.  He is also pro-fornication.

Murphy, who has a Ph.D. is psychology, admitted to having an affair with a “personal friend.”  He has been named in his “personal friend’s” divorce proceedings.

He is 64 years old and his “personal friend” is 32 years old.

I guess we should not be surprised – he has voted for all Trump’s initiatives this year. Like president, like congressman.

Is it just me, or are more sanctimonious, hypocritical Republicans fooling around than Democrats?

Thanks to Deb for the heads up.

Junior Trump, Jr. now has a third explanation of why he went to the Russia meeting.

Donald Trump Jr. told Senate investigators on Thursday that he set up a June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer because he was intrigued that she might have damaging information about Hillary Clinton, saying it was important to learn about Mrs. Clinton’s “fitness” to be president.

He does realize he’s Donald Trump’s son, right?

And y’all, think about it – this is the explanation he went with after he had consulted with high price lawyers.

He told investigators that working for his father’s campaign consumed his life. “I had never worked on a campaign before and it was an exhausting, all-encompassing, life-changing experience. Every single day I fielded dozens, if not hundreds, of emails and phone calls.”

Yeah, Sonny, it’s called “having a real job.”

Roy Zimmerman praises Joel Osteen with brilliant lyrics. (You can skip over the two commercials at the beginning after 5 seconds each.  It’s totally worth it.)

Thelma figured out why Joel Osteen needs all that money.  He’s using it for scientific research to figure out how to get a camel through the eye of a needle.

Thanks to your donations and physical and logical help from a whole mess of friends and supporters, M&M Southern Creole Kitchen has already fed more than 1,000 people.

You are phenomenal.  Here’s some pictures.

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Here’s the two M’s of M&Ms.

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And Homemade Biscuits!

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  When your head hits the pillow tonight, know that you did something good for a total stranger and you helped make this world a kinder place.

Well, we should have seen this coming.

You know those monuments to prosperity gospel who say God will make you rich if you just give your money to your pastor? Well, they just expanded the definition of “your” money.  They mean you.  Personally.

Yeah, they want FEMA money.  Apparently, they didn’t have insurance and by golly, God did not favor them. They got damaged just like the heathens next door.

The only difference is that the heathen next door pays taxes.

The churches claim they are being denied their first amendment rights because FEMA is discriminating against them.

The Texas churches that sued are the Rockport First Assembly of God in Rockport, which lost its roof and steeple and suffered other structural damage, and the Harvest Family Church in Cypress and Hi-Way Tabernacle in Cleveland, which were flooded.

I suggest they do what thousands of other folks pestered by Harvey do – put on some boots and a face mask, grab a shovel, starting digging crap Harvey left behind, and pay your damn taxes you welfare queens.

Thanks to Steven for the heads up.