The Storm Front

I am exhausted from the coverage on Hurricane Ian. These storms are increasing in both their ferocity and their frequency thanks to Global Warming which has led to significant climate change across the globe. The heat waves that permeated Europe this summer, the fires across the West, the heat that led most of the U.S. to have the hottest summer of record and lastly the storms that have resulted from Tornadoes and Hurricanes have slammed the landscape here and the Islands off the United States, Puerto Rico being the most recent. But we have other Islands in the area and they too are often damaged in these storms but do not get the same coverage as they are smaller and often part of a larger Commonwealth.

There are three parts to a storm – the storm itself with high winds, rain and in turn storm surge that comes after the storm passes as the tides rise. In the case of Katrina it was only a category 3 hurricane intially, (Ian a 4) with top winds exceeding 115 miles (185 km) per hour and a circulation that covered virtually the entire Gulf of Mexico. By the following afternoon Katrina had become one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record, with winds in excess of 170 miles (275 km) per hour. On the morning of August 29, as the storm made landfall it became a category 4 hurricane when it hit in a town just 45 Miles south of New Orleans. It continued on a course to the northeast, crossing the Mississippi Sound and making a second landfall later that morning near the mouth of the Pearl River. A storm surge more than 26 feet (8 metres) high slammed into the coastal cities of Gulfport and Biloxi, Mississippi, devastating homes and resorts along the beachfront.

In New Orleans, where much of the greater metropolitan area is below sea level, federal officials initially believed that the city had “dodged the bullet.” While New Orleans had been spared a direct hit by the intense winds of the storm, the true threat was soon apparent. The levee system that held back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne had been completely overwhelmed by 10 inches (25 cm) of rain and Katrina’s storm surge. Some levees buttressing the Industrial Canal, the 17th Street Canal, and other areas were overtopped by the storm surge, and others were breached after these structures failed outright from the buildup of water pressure behind them. The area east of the Industrial Canal was the first part of the city to flood; by the afternoon of August 29, some 20 percent of the city was underwater.

So the parallels between the two storms is not lost. Originally thought of going North in its trajectory, Ian was not predicted to hit the Ft Myers region. And we all know that storms are like people, utterly predictable. And with that the Weather-Historians who have lived through decades of storm warnings are sure that they will “ride it out” as they have generators, water and food. Their neighbors maybe but who cares. The roads, the ability to get to medical care, to help those stranded, the ability to restore power in which to operate and function the needed industries and businesses that will rebuild, support and aid communities will have issue, not an issue to the hardy weather-historian. Almost all of them Seniors, many with health issues, many disabled or care-givers themselves to disabled family members are all sure they have what they need to “ride out” the storm. No story, no what-if, worst case scenario is part of their world view. The ability to deny facts, not face truths and truly grasp the serious nature of this boggles the mind at this point. Watching tortured people stand among their losses, the lost pets and the inability to have the resources they will need in which to rebuild are common ones heard post storm, but these weather-historians apparently have along with willful ignorance, an inability to comprehend and grasp truth.

I am exhausted hearing about this and once again the FEDS will bail these States out without recourse, without demanding abandoning building in barrier islands, on flood plains, having them insure their property including flood insurance and with that demanding evacuation orders be upheld and in turn if they refuse signing waivers over regarding their liability and risk. Sorry folks you were told and told again at one point you will have to be responsible for yourself in ways that demand less intervention and support by the same Government you eschew and the taxes you are not required to pay when you live or relocate to these regions, the same regions hit by storms time and time again. I am talking to those not only in Florida, but Texas and Nashville and many other Southern States that simply want more and more residents and with that they offer the incentive of low taxes and even fewer regulations such as those regarding building and construction codes that could force many to build with said storms in mind. Nope, not going to do that.

I have attached story after story of the many residents who simply are lucky to be alive. A State in denial and the lack of effective communication by the Authorities to urge if not demand residents to evacuate regardless or risk not being rescued by anyone other than private citizens, as story after story concludes with just that. The idea of a loss of the ability to travel, to have power for weeks and access to health care and other needed facilities will not be possible thanks to the demand and possible damage. And with that all Hospitals and Long term care should be evacuated regardless and only those at high or serious risk to move remain with a core of volunteer staff in which to maintain a minimum level of care, with all waivers and liability signed off to prevent the 5 Days at Memorial story from ever happening again.

We have large failures to communicate, listen and to give a shit. We really don’t. The story about our Building Concierge’s Sister in Orlando with the Hurricane Party and the complaint she ran out of booze and could not replace it. Or Amazon delivering during a Hurricane. The bullshit about Cars being stored/parked in Garages getting damaged, yet have you tried to drive a car in a flood? You can’t. The morons jumping in surfs or going out shelling or whatever, and the rest should be arrested and prosecuted as they take away resources and time from those in need. Again we don’t give a shit not in the least and we truly are these willfully ignorant stubborn people who think we are super heroes who can survive it all, says the 72 year old man on a walker.

Here are the stories of the “Survivors” and the stories that resulted from Ian, now on on CBS as the newest reality series.

Those Boots are made for Moon Walking

Search Team Rescue

Tik Tok and shit its flooding

The Before and After

Caregiver and her disabled Brothers

Doorbell Camera the new documentarian

Paradise Lost

Survival Stories

Whopps its heading our way

Get MOM!

A one Man Cajun Army

Fuck this shit, I’m out

Real Life Shark Tank

Alligator Handbag

Mix and Match

Well the weather here is frightening, but not as bad as elsewhere. In Tennessee home of the deniers of science, climate included, has had flooding that has led to over 20 dead. But hey don’t ask the Legislature to do anything about infrastructure as well they will take that Government check and promptly build some monument to a White Supremacist over doing needed repairs to roads, bridges and flood controls on the rivers despite the 200 year old floods that now are Decade new ones. Hey they have mask mandates to overturn, civil rights to oppress and open carry laws to pass. Priorities people! (Yes folks I hated every waking minute living in Tennessee and that will not change, no absence and heart not in the least fond)

That said Memphis was a cover story in The Washington Post with regards to the issues of hiring and how it is affecting small businesses, mostly those owned by people of color. Memphis is largely a chocolate city and perhaps unlike most of the other racist cities in the State it is the one that truly reflects the concept of Southern Hospitality. I loved it there and cannot wait to return but this issue is one I am seeing everywhere. From Bridgeport to Newport the swath of Help Wanted signs is why many of the businesses have permanently closed, from small business, to major ones you see CLOSED on many doors or limited days and hours. And no folks it is not the extended UI benefits as again as a study has shown that employment in states that ended in earlier versus those still in the plan have a slight difference in that trajectory, the irony is that the states which have elected to keep the extended benefits hiring is up and most notably the workforce has changed, to one of teenagers; a group that has found in the past few decades the lowest employment, go figure. What this says to me is that is what these jobs truly are, low wage entry level which for years have been the jobs that were the ones that we have neglected with regards to paying a living wage and filled by Immigrants and Women. As for those other jobs, such as child care and home care health workers, we pay them poorly as well but those cannot be held by teens and much like the ongoing Nursing and Teaching shortage, little will change until they stop paying in change.

Then we have another Tennessee tale, Phil Valentine, the Covid denier is dead, from Covid. Irony much? May Governor Greg Abbott of Texas join him soon. He has a colleague from a Texas town who thought it was all bullshit too, waiting to greet him. Not so much bullshit now is it? Well can’t suppress voting rights from six feet under! Okay, I have zero problem wishing the deaths of men who are largely enabling people to die from something preventable. Sorry folks pity for the ones who did not do anything wrong and died or became seriously ill thanks to the bullshit peddled by assholes like these. Hey but in Florida it is a new way to defund the Police, kill them with Covid.

Next up on the hit parade is the riots and mayhem in the streets of Kabul. What? You mean Portland. Oh yes same difference, angry men fighting to prove who are the bigger meaner men. One is about religion and the other about religion. Christianity vs Islam when it comes to that issue it is literally a race as in a color of skin and gender. Men swinging dicks with guns as the condom. Oh wait these shitholes won’t wear masks so would they wear condoms? No love no glove or mask. Wow you know this mask thing is kinda sexy folks, and the Proud Boys do love some cosplay costumes there. Funny that at least the women in Afghanistan are more than masked. Yes we women are the problem.

And Trump had a rally in Alabama. Was Jeff Sessions invited? Guess not. Odd, he promoted vaccines. Well he has to as he needs his Trumptards alive. They are going old school Japanese and doing it Kamikaze style. Just say NO. Wow we are back in the Reagan years!

And lastly in this the Country of Old Men, great movie btw, we have my beloved Joe Biden doing the right thing and upholding the deal Trump made and getting eviscerated for it. Again this war was useless and we knew this and The Washsington Post had long uncovered how the Military had obfuscated this fact for decades.. yes all two of them we were there. The link is to the NYT and it in turn has the link to the Post and they are a must read, so anyone who truly believes we are handling this wrong, needs a dose of Fox News and a recall back to another decade of my life that was all GOP all the time, the Nixon years and Cambodia. Kissinger is still, well, alive and I am sure railing that we should have stayed there too. War kills all living things.

And then we have the R. Kelly trial (number one)going on in Brooklyn. There is so much luggage there to unpack I am not sure what to make of this. But the Doctor who diagnosed Kelly’s Herpes but never took a payment from him in exchange for free tickets and comped show travel seems to have some problems with being a licensed Physician. As stated in the trial: Dr. McGrath said that he had first believed that Mr. Kelly could have had herpes in 2000. He had first begun to serve as the singer’s doctor around 1994, but did not charge him for his services, he said. (Instead, he testified, Mr. Kelly invited him to about a dozen concerts, sometimes flying him across the country and paying for his accommodations.)

And to hear one former employee describe working for R Kelly as being in the Twilight Zone you realize how money and access to fame color our vision when it comes to men doing harm to young women. And in turn enabling toxic workplaces such as former Governor Cuomo (who assured all of us or reassured us that he would still be leaving office today as scheduled, despite the weather. Yeah a bitch to move during a Hurricane) or Scott Rudin who did not sexually harass anyone (and apparently Gay and married which makes this one a glass ceiling breaker and steadfastly unusual) who did discriminate in his abuse, women and especially those of color the targets of his abuse; however it seems that regardless he was a Grade A asshole across the boards, literally across the boards as he became one of Broadway’s most notorious or most voracious, either/or, none of it good. What we tolerate in the search of money and fame – herpes, death, rape and beatings by a computer keyboard. When does it stop Mommy?

To demonstrate my quest to prove equality when it comes to abuse can we discuss Naomi Campbell? Yes folks, phones were thrown but the Guardian is right, someone has to work with these people. Welcome to the Twilight Zone.

In Memoriam

As I listen and watch the news about the tornado that hit Nashville this week I am amazed at how biased and utterly useless the media is when covering a natural disaster.  They focus on the human toll and find those who fit the “profile” of victim; Usually of course poor, white trash and some quasi famous or religious figure in the community.   They rarely speak to Politicians who are there just offering hopes and prayers but not discussing the matter in depth and in this case the lack of an infrastructure that enables people to have a better warning system other than a cell phone.  They also fail to discuss the lack of medical and emergency resources particularly in rural communities which have seen those decimated in the past few years as States and Cities struggle for revenue and Nashville is no exception.

Red state blue state all states have had a state of emergency over the last decade, from climate change that has led to drought, fires, to an over abundance of water and floods from storms and overflow of rivers.  The large scale damages brought to our American towns and cities are largely due to failed infrastructure upgrades and long term plans for disasters.

I have no love lost for Nashville none.  The irony that a large scale tornado blew through less than a week after I left did at one point make me laugh.  I tried the entire time I lived there to be a white light of positive energy while around me was the darkest of light that consistently attempted to put out said light.  So for a tornado to come in the dark of night and the blackest of clouds go right up the street from the hotel I was staying only seemed to validate my belief in the forces of energy that followed me in my time there.

To point out that the region is highly religious is significant and I cannot stress enough the endless proclamations and justifications using God as there base.  The belief that one is facing the wrath of Jesus for failures personal is why bad things happen to you.   And that from accepting the Lord and Jesus Christ (here is it only two dudes not three as in the trinity another nod to hating Catholicism) as your personal Savior you cannot be a member of the tribe and the South is very tribal.

Tennessee was finally addressing the flood of a decade ago and what that meant was well acknowledging it happened and from that it rose above the waters like Jesus walked on them and in turn Nashville became the designated “it” city.  With this came resentment, anger and more obstinance by the powers of the State to ensure that its sad rural towns and neglected own place in the state was not ignored.  But money like a river flows and the Cumberland flows through Nashville with boats that are full of cash by those who see opportunity and zones that come with it regardless of the history and the people that align its shores.

Nashville is a city awash with historical makers (as are most cities in the South) and they proclaim and event, person, a place that once was there as some way to validate, explain or more likely excuse the fact that the racism and violence of the South has now been replaced with a much more lucrative hierarchy provided by money and it can buy all the class and power it wants.  Classism comes from money, from history, old versus new and in the South the cities are dominated by a few families who wish to keep it that way but that way means allowing a few carpetbaggers to dock at your ports and sit a spell have some sweet tea and let the businessmen talk business while the women make the biscuits. Its Patriarchy and Misogyny at its finest as again no loss noting that South Carolina and Tennessee are tied as the top five states with issues corresponding to Domestic Violence.  Note that the next time you are profiling a marvelous story on growth and legacy in the South.

So once again Nashville is at a crossroads and I suspect Margaret Renkyl, the town crier, will take to my Bible, The New York Times, to upbraid and remind those that Anderson Cooper failed to show up at all this time during the cities time of need.  To her I say take a dose of shut the fuck up bitch.  You have way more problems and this is just one of the 99 others and Nashville this is not the first nor last but this was coming and few seemed to get “it” but then again who gets anything there.

The area in Nashville that was hit was gentrification central, Germantown and East Nashville, specifically the area of the 5 points.  East Nashville is like a pie piece in a quadrant and it runs outward of the city and is framed by two major roads – Dickerson Pike and Gallatin with the highway running the adjacent East that leads to the airport and in turn cuts the city into its pie shape. That highway is run though the city as it circles the West and North and cuts deliberately through North Nashville as it was and largely is a black owned area of the city.  The history behind that was also ugly as well much is in Nashville. 

But now again that area will be ripe for the money men and their ability to finally rid themselves of a problem that stops them from making Nashville Great Again and they will arrive checks in hand and they will be outstretched in Churches (the real way to get attention, submission and permission) to buy off the damaged goods.  They did it in the flood and they will do it again.

The issue about tornado warnings has like floods been addressed and ignored and will be again.  It is a system of piecemeal bullshit that relies on the loose connections that define the infrastructure there.  That is Nashville bury the problems with the dirt, the damage and make it shiny and pretty no one will remember or care.  Keep it simple stupid and well stupid is as stupid does and they are pretty stupid there.  The schools and education there ensure that.

My time there was marked by two tornado warnings, one at 6:30 am on the way to a school I was working at and I heard sirens had no idea what they were but turned onto the radio and they said it was likely missing the area but to take shelter.  I was at the mall across the street and parked in the garage there thinking that it would be the best place for the vehicle as it was a rental but still and I ran across the street to the school with a bus driver in tow as that is also a shelter spot.   It was nothing and the day went on. The second was a few weeks later at 5 pm and I was just turning on the news and I heard the sirens raced downstairs to my entrance and pulled plants, pots and stuff out of harms way and went into my bathroom to wait it out.  After a few minutes the power was on still I was listening to news and then the weather turned black and a ferocious rain and wind hit and when I came downstairs the next morning my entrance was flooded and my downstairs neighbors was as well so we cleaned it up and I bought a door jam specifically for that type of damage/weather which I used a few times during my time there. And there were businesses and others who seemed utterly ignorant on how to prepare and circumvent this type of damage and I too had no knowledge nor information about this until well I did and I took it seriously.  In Nashville no one listens to the news, takes any information seriously and unless money is involved don’t give a flying fuck about anyone.

I thought about what if something had happened to me while I was there and even if I was there during this week and if anyone would give a shit.  And the answer is no.

So no I am not pearl clutching, praying, hand wringing nor dancing with joy over this disaster as I know another is coming.  The word “safe” is used so frequently in Nashville its the cities safe word and no on gives a flying fuck. Stay safe, I just want you to be safe, for safety’s sake.  They say it when getting a coffee its utterly useless.

So when the media pulls out from profiling the tragedies, my favorite was a former American Idol winner, Taylor Hicks, who lives in Germantown or actually in Buena Vista a once ironclad Black area talk about hiding in his closet in the garage I knew the worst was over.

Money talks and walks and in a part of the country that eschews regulation and disclosure laws about damage from floods, water, fire and the like now is the time to head down cash in hand.  Bring a van of workers you corral from other expensive areas like New Jersey and New York and tell them there is no State Income taxes and the cost of living is less (not really as the sales tax on all goods and services pretty much kills that and now with some of the housing destroyed the cheap dumps that hold several folks will be jacked up as well nothing says taking advantage in a time of need more than Nashville) and that the quality of life is just easy breezy in the South and viola you are now a new member of the tribe!

When I lived there I never met more con artists and jacked up idiots in pursuit of wealth in my life, the crime, the violence, the issues with drugs and alcohol and of course the faux religion did nothing that made me want to stay on those rocky shores.  The water there is blood red but colder than any blue water I have encountered in the North.  I live next to the Hudson and funny that is one river I feel safe next to but then again safe is a word I never hear here.   I don’t need to as if you are that stupid to not take care of yourself here then you need not be here.  Hey I know of somewhere you can go.

Some Cheese with that Wine?

Well once again sitting in the belly of the beast I opened the New York Times to find an opinion piece from my favorite whiner, Margaret Renkl.  I’ve never met the woman but since she has become the “Southern Voice” for the paper I have never laughed or rolled my eyes more as she is another classic example of what defines white privilege in Nashville.  That the Times could not find anyone else to opine on the region is disturbing, marks of laziness and even The Bitter Southerner (which is largely a retail outlet with essays) does a way better job of finding diverse voices and views about the region.  Hey this is apparently still it city if by it you mean it is one hot mess here then yes.

Again the local news which is largely a crime and sports reporting mentioned the crime stats as it affects the only industry that matters – tourism.  They found the biggest violent crime was deep in the heart of Broadway just two blocks from where I sit and where I walked into a liquor store to witness the robbery I wrote about yesterday.  And last night more crazy on the same street with a fight, a home invasion and a woman robbed at gunpoint by two teens during an evening walk through her neighborhood.  Meanwhile the city continues to decline with public health clinics falling apart, schools still the dumpsters they always have been with a new corruption scandal unfolding and of course the State Legislation is now working on another law requiring students to play only sports and on teams that are connected to their in gender assigned at birth .  Hate laws go well served with meat and threes.

So Mags in her opine piece is upset that the media did not cover the now decade old flood that devastated the city and she is particularly upset that is was not until day four that Anderson Cooper arrived! Bless his heart!

To Mags, I just want to say: Shut the fuck up you whiny little bitch.

Here is the story that she neglects to mention: That the powers that be knew that the Cumberland could overflow and in fact cause damage, that nothing not one thing has been done to circumvent this from happening again despite two Mayors addressing the issue the money is not in the budget for this. That in fact Nashville has been aggressive in buying up land from homeowner in direct line of a floodplain and do so with federal money, which a very article in this very paper she writes for has covered. That during the post flood cleanup the City and State got the usual wealth of dollars from the feds and have used some of it do build an Amphitheater in downtown that brings in more shows and in turn more tourists, along with complaints about noise in the nearby community of East Nashville, where the housing project of Shelby is located and largely faces of color reside; It is alongside the Nissan Stadium (I wonder if that will still be the name in a year or few after all said and done) and one of the most violent blocks in the city, the other being right smack in the middle of the honky tonks at 3rd and Broadway.  Is that in the tourist info brochure? That in turn much of the abatement money renovated properties that were vacant and then in turn sold to build the now honky tonk paradise row that dominates the city. That in turn millions went to millionaires who turned this property over in a flip that defies property brothers dreams as Tennessee does not require flood notifications on sales transactions. In turn that lead to further boon and bust in gentrification as now right along the flood line they are building a Four Seasons Hotel Condo building and on the basement of the new building that is all things Nashville they have housed the African American Museum. So lets see how those do when the flood hits them in a year or few.

Mags you need to tell the truth in this passive aggressive missive about Climate Change and whatever else this is about, the poor me bullshit that dominates the discussion here about all things other than truth. Mags needs to note that Nashville the City nor the State of Tennessee gives one flying fuck about any of this unless it has to do with the NFL, Tourism, Bachelorette Whores and other big ticket items that will pass through like the flood leaving damage in their wake but easier to clean up after. No one cares Mags, you got that much right.

Nobody Cared When Nashville Drowned
A new exhibit marks the 10th anniversary of a national disaster the nation ignored.

By Margaret Renkl
Contributing Opinion Writer
Jan. 20, 2020

NASHVILLE — On the Saturday I had set aside to visit a new exhibit at the Frist Art Museum, it rained so hard I was afraid to leave the house. Nashville was built on the Cumberland River, and even those of us who live far from its banks are invariably a stone’s throw from at least one creek that drains into the great Cumberland or one of its tributaries. A deluge falling on saturated soil will flood the creeks and leave water pooling on low-lying roads. “Turn Around Don’t Drown” is a truism I conscientiously heed.

The exhibit I planned to visit that day, ironically enough, was a retrospective of the devastating 2010 flood that dropped more than 13 inches of rain on this area in 36 hours — twice the amount of rain that fell during the previous two-day record. The Cumberland River crested more than 11 feet above flood level, leaving 10,000 people in the region displaced and 26 others dead, including an elderly couple who drowned when their car was swept off the road not far from my house.
Area landmarks were shut down for months. Opry Mills, a massive mall on the banks of the Cumberland, was closed for nearly two years. Nearby, the Opryland Resort & Convention Center had to evacuate 1,500 hotel guests, and the first floor of the Grand Ole Opry House itself was completely submerged. Twenty-four feet of water entered the Schermerhorn, Nashville’s transcendently beautiful symphony hall, where the losses included two Steinway concert grand pianos. Soundcheck, a sprawling rehearsal and equipment-storage facility in East Nashville, took a nearly fatal blow, with millions of dollars of instruments — belonging to both session musicians and industry superstars — lost to the water. It all felt almost personal: What would Music City be without the music?

The cleanup took months and resulted in 111,000 tons of debris. But the rescue efforts and the following recovery are a legacy of the flood that Nashvillians are proudest of. The self-described “Redneck Armada” used their own boats to rescue strangers and carry them to higher ground. Garth Brooks performed nine sold-out benefit concerts — nine of them — and raised almost $5 million for flood relief. Volunteers, some 29,000 strong, worked for months to help both neighbors and strangers recover. Flood-ravaged Nashville was the biggest small town in America.

At the Frist, “The Nashville Flood: Ten Years Later” occupies an entry-level gallery that’s free to the public. It includes photographs taken both during and after the flood, oral-history testimony from survivors, a map showing the hardest-hit areas and an interactive before-and-after display of city scenes. There’s even a flood-damaged guitar from Soundcheck. It’s multisensory history at its best.
It’s also a devastating reminder of an event that reshaped the contours of civic life: the water shortages caused by inundated water-treatment facilities, the roads closed because bridges had been washed away, the mildewed carpet and drywall piled up in mountains in virtually every neighborhood in town, the funerals. Days and days of funerals.

And yet nobody outside Nashville seemed to have any idea at all of what was happening to us. If you’ve never heard of the Nashville flood, you are far from alone. The national media completely ignored the catastrophe as it was happening. A few days after the sun came out, we began to see short reports here and there — a brief article by The Associated Press, an essay by Ann Patchett for The Times. Days later, Anderson Cooper finally showed up. “When Anderson Cooper is late to your local disaster,” Jeff Severns Guntzel pointed out in the Utne Reader, “you know something is wrong.”

It’s worth asking, even now, what was wrong. Partly it was timing: On May 1, the day it began to rain in Nashville, an attempted terrorist attack was thwarted in Times Square. Ten days earlier, B.P.’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig had exploded, leaking 200,000 gallons of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico. The massive oil slick that resulted was due to hit the fragile Gulf Coast just as the rain began to fall in Nashville.

No question, both of those stories deserved every bit of ink and footage and pixels they engendered. But when a major American city gets hit with a natural disaster that kills more than two dozen people and drives 10,000 others from their homes, and the national news media responds with a shrug, something more than limited bandwidth or disaster fatigue may be to blame.

Perhaps it’s just that Nashville hadn’t yet captured the national imagination the way it has in recent years. “Nashville” the television show was still more than two years away from its premiere on ABC, and The Times was still nearly three years away from crowning this town “it” city. On May 1, 2010, Nashville was just a midsize American city in flyover country, and when something bad happens in flyover country, the feeling everywhere else seems to be that we somehow brought it on ourselves.
God knows we’re guilty, here in the red states, of inadequate environmental policy, of shoot-yourself-in-the-foot governance, of staying put when the smarter thing would be to leave. There are complicated reasons for those decisions, reasons not easily summed up in a single news story. But none of it should prevent a compassionate response to another human being’s suffering or admiration in the face of another human being’s heroism. The Redneck Armada saved countless lives, whatever you might think you know about “rednecks” in general. In any case, Nashville could not have made the rain stop falling any more than California can keep the San Andreas fault from shifting.

A decade ago, we got hit by a “thousand-year flood,” but we know now that such estimates no longer hold. Nashville has taken measures to mitigate the damage of the next flood because we know there will be a next one. Smaller, poorer towns will simply have to hope for the best. That’s why “This region stands to bear the brunt and lose the most from the effects of climate change,” as Lyndsey Gilpin, editor of the indispensable website Southerly, points out. Surely the national media won’t be able to turn away from it now.

Florence and the Machine

I am exhausted from the endless coverage of Florence the now tropical storm which is still getting the coverage of the Category 4 Hurricane that it was when it began.  The lies of the administration kicked in and there was I actually believe that many wish this bitch was bigger than the dick Harvey that came before.  One: Because Trump needed more validation and Two: The Media wanted to use it shame, embarrass and clutch pearls collectively.  There is no point seeing one newscaster after another being pummeled by rain and wind telling us what we can see, thanks.  This does nothing to actually support the view of the media in anyway but every cane is a hurricane just ask New Orleans and it’s served in a keepsake.

The local media here is quick to send broadcasters to cover the local churches and their roles in saving the people and towns in the path of the tropical storm with the endless requests for donation and prayers as a side note.   We have to have a local connection to a disaster apparently. Really is that necessary and that is great but the news is not a fund raising source nor should be.   There is the need to report on what now is primarily a local matter and one that could be a secondary story to the main news of the day.   And that is what?  As again local news cedes to be a Facebook video full of mug shots, crime reports and sports.  When the news actually covered Paul Manafort’s guilty plea I thought perhaps it had been a slow crime day.  And that is the irony that the community that the news should serve is in a blackout due to a lack of electricity so the coverage does nothing to alleviate concern if one’s family is in the path of danger and are alright.  Funny once again social media could provide that but wait that blackout thing. That is a contributory factor in the Puerto Rico death count.  When you cannot communicate and rely on electricity to charge cell phones and PC’s how does  one know anything?  Oh the TV? Right. But that is truly the secondary source of information for most folks as it is all on the magical 3×5 cards.  And their idiocy shows.

Here in Nashville our news is focused largely on the issue of crime and in turn predominantly issues of race and and the age of the perpetrators, most of them Teenagers.   The bulk of crime here is committed by faces of color,  and while those are predominately black faces, we have a huge Kurdish presence who seem to rarely get mentioned nor the remaining Latin quadrant or White Trash, none of them are near the level that the Black community encounters.  And the level of discourse regardless of the audience is fairly distressing as one peruses on Scoop Nashville on where? Facebook.  (Where I suspect much of the mainstream news gets its stories).

And as the week ended I was not shocked to hear that once again a Teacher/Coach and Student went at it. This is not sexual but again that too is the second most reported encounter in the news of late.  We have had many coaches and others in the area charged  with assault that is sexual in nature.  It was that  Middle School I went to this past week to see if the problems I had experienced the first and sole visit were still ongoing and of course find out the true story of the Teacher found in 2016 with a gun.  The kids were still as nuts as ever and I had the 5th and 6th graders this time and it appears the older grades once again are as troubled as ever as this encounter seems to describe.  That said that day the kids said the Coach would take them and many of them left the class (which I felt no need to verify or care as it meant fewer kids to manage) and frankly it again concerned me that this taking of kids from classes and giving gym time seems to be the idea of classroom management throughout Nashville’s public schools.  The idea I speculate is that the Coach is a masculine figure who is paternal and of course disciplinary figure who uses sports as a manner of attaining compliance.   What.ever.

I have laughed at the current state of the schools here as they are the dumpster fires they always were not worse just the same and my coping strategies are actually working so I am pleased that I am managing my own anger in a healthy way.   As on Thursday I returned to the school that two years ago on the last day of school the Special Ed staff put me in an adjacent room with cats.  Yes cats. I was asked when I arrived if I had allergies and when I responded no they said I could stay in this class with the cats to mind them as kids and staff were coming in to look at them and see who was going to be placed on the list to take them.  I never spoke, was spoken to  nor monitored any of it.  I read the paper and then after a couple of hours I wandered the building went to the bathroom for 30 minutes where I sat literally and cried.  Came back sat there and watched as in the adjacent room the SPED kids and staff sat watched movies and had treats.  I was not spoken to offered any coffee or even acknowledged or asked my name.  This is Southern Hospitality. So when I came back I got up to check the cats (or at least act as if I was) and quietly left by the side door with about an hour left in the day.  When asked by someone why I did that and would they not say something, my response was what would they?  “Hey the sub we put in the room of cats was sitting there for over two hours and then she just got up and disappeared do you know where she is?”  Really?  Go ahead a dock my $11/hr then, yes that is what an educated, trained, and credentialed Substitute Teacher makes.

That SPED gig I do a lot. I returned Thursday to the cat school and I at least did not see the Principal feeling compelled to ride around the building on a hovercraft, nor did I actually have cats in my care.  It was in fact an actual gig that  once again,  however,  I was spoken to like a dog who needed training and ignored when not.  Some things never change.   I saved that day by leaving at my scheduled time and going right to the movies, The Wife, which was well worth my admission price and it took away the stain of that hideous morning.   I had taken that gig over the one I was at yesterday as I knew it would be as stupid if not at least entertaining as the week before but no less boring as shit.  As I rarely do anything except stand there invisible, ignored and marginalized. Like the students only at least I am paid.  (well sort of)

Last week I walked to this school which is a block from my home hence why I take the gigs but I have never found a respite or even belief that anything there is servicing the kids, the communities or even the Teachers.   It is truly sad, grim and pathetic.   The school is one of the three alternative schools that take kids who cannot be in a conventional school setting, some by choice some not.  It is the type of school that can truly be described as a place where Institutional Racism lives.  Last week I was there along with two other subs whose job was to be support staff and aid Teachers with assigned students.  Here I “watched” and took notes about a young girl who careened from room to room and did nothing that comprised learning of any kind.   I did enjoy watching the other Sub and the Counselor go at it while the full time Teacher and I sat there and did nothing.  This week I just sat at the computer and watched more of the same behaviors, including the girl throwing books, ranting and raving, go through the Teacher’s desk, removing items and then getting up and walking out all in under 5 minutes or less. I yes monitored the time.  The regular Teacher had meetings which left me alone to watch the show.  I spent most of the time alone with the doors opening and closing when Students would walk in and ask for money, food, earphones and then leave.   As I had no keys to lock the door or use the toilet I put a paper over the window during the one time the kids were at lunch and pissed in the classroom sink.  Yes I pissed in the sink. Not the first time I have done that in a school as I am never given keys or shown where the Adult restroom is nor have a place to secure my belongings while I go to said restroom so I just ask whomever lets me to leave it locked and I open it when kids come to class as most schools require the doors locked during that period.  So if I leave I have to rig it or again find someone to unlock it.   So again if you have a better idea in which to relieve myself please let me know.  I feel degraded, angry and exhausted. Yes, let me stress this again, I am forced to piss in classroom sinks less I get locked out of a room or use the kids restroom and risk being accused of something, robbed or harmed as I have to bring my belongings with me as I cannot risk leaving them.  Again how would you feel at the end of a day?

And that is not just this school but it is one of many.   Finally with an hour left to the day another meeting was ongoing in the actual class and I excused myself once again with no keys and nowhere to go.  In another school I sat in the stairwell and they actually came and found me to let me back in the room so this time I chatted with the Math Teacher who had decided to lock herself out of her own classroom to prevent another student who also shared similar behaviors and decided this was the only way to handle it by observing it in the hall.   No Administrator or Counselor came to assist.  The same Counselor who was intent on telling me about how to handle the young girl (which I had no intention of telling him this was above my pay grade and let alone I could care less) never came up but had earlier looking for her, picking his nose while asking me where other Teachers were as if I fucking know.  Honestly the dude is an idiot and in a perfect gig for a school with less than a dozen kids and no structure or organization in the least.   Again these are all faces of color from the Administration to many of the staff and the children are largely Latino and Black and this year it seems to be the former versus the latter and that is because of the language barriers and ever present gangs in that community that lead parents to try whatever it takes to get their kids educated.   So when you do this to children who are of color, who are poor and often with special needs from learning to language you are failing them.  You are doing nothing but housing them with no clear plan or structure that will enable them to return to their schools and integrate into the mainstream.  It is tragic, grim and pathetic.  This is Institutional Racism.  So once again when I had nowhere to go and an hour left to the day I found my leave via the back door. Even the sign that said it was an emergency door was a failure.  Things work out when you have a plan, this school has none. But few do as that is Nashville Public Schools.

The sordid reality is that this city pays Teachers less than anywhere in the state and a blogger here documents this subject in his blog, the Tennessee Education Report.  The other Blogger,  Dad Gone Wild,  documents the constant strum and drang from personnel to legal issues in the district despite his failure be elected to the School Board it is clear his role as watchdog is by far more important.  The School Board here is so dysfunctional that one is even profiled on my favorite racist Facebook site, Scoop Nashville.

I write to cleanse and document the day as I write my own book I have elected to use these as generalizations to simply point out how racist and incompetent the management is much like those in restaurants as I call my book, No Substitutions Please.  The comparisons are not lost on me in the least.  I leave every school feeling as if I had just dumpster dived for food and came out empty handed and I am there only for the hours I am there.  I try to get out of there as fast and furious sans a car or Vin Diesel as that is the only way to stay sane.  Otherwise I suspect I will turn into the Teachers that I meet, unkind, dismissive, rude, abusive, afraid or exhausted.  Thanks I will pass on that helping.

So this is where we are in America. We care more about the weather and the daily tweets of Trump than what is actually going on in our own community.  There is this station called The Weather Channel that covers just that – weather.  There are other things in a neighborhood that matter, shame Mr. Rogers is dead as he might find it is beautiful day or not if he lived in Nashville with the crime, the violence and the problem with youth here.   Blame a Teacher right?

Summer of Hell

And yes that could apply to the Trump Dynasty but it also comes after our Il Douchebag-in-Chief to pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord.  For those of the Evangelical set who love to say God is punishing those who withdraw from the “right” thing (vague and usually about something that is an intrinsic fault of the individual and nothing extrinsic what.so.ever) I find that a coincidence.  Gee God doesn’t want us to protect and preserve our planet?

We are at a dangerous road here not just in America but across the planet and we have a leader intent on suppressing information and denying facts. Oh yeah, I forgot fake news, fake science, alternative facts. 

In my old hometown of Seattle they have been fighting smoke from Canada.  If they are not trying to cross the border those Canadians they trying to kill us via air toxicity from the burning woods just across the Washington State border.  And in turn excessive heat that has run along the Pacific Northwest and including excessive heat in the Southwest causing air delays and health warnings as a result.  In turn this means massive use of air conditioning which affects the body’s ability to handle heat  and in turn affects the environment which occurs from the use of electricity and the waste that results from the units. 

Then we have the Tornadoes in the Midwest with massive damage and in turn floods that follow such high winds.   And that goes for the flash floods in Texas and in New Orleans  that has not seen this much water damage since Katrina.  And yes and it can happen anywhere and we mean you New York New York.

Then lastly the sinkholes of Florida.  Well it will be the first State to likely be the most affected by Global Warming and in turn that means bye bye Mar-a-Lago.  

The last few weeks here in Nashville we had heat warnings and are now cooling down to below normal temps and rain warnings almost daily.  And I am not complaining as the heat index had us over 100 for almost 13 days and I recall my first Summer here last year and this one I can handle. 

Funny coming from a place of rain as normal to a place where rain is abnormal is an oddity that I suspect has more to do with the lack of infrastructure and the composition of terrain and how they never thought of waste water as two kinds as that would be thinking and stuff!! And this is the place that gave America a revolution with regards to water and power in the Tennessee Valley Authority.  Well different times, different President and all that.

Welcome to the Summer of Hell. The Devil is doing this clearly as God doesn’t punish Americans for electing Donald Trump.

It’s Not Your Imagination.
Summers Are Getting Hotter.

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By NADJA POPOVICH and ADAM PEARCE
JULY 28, 2017

Extraordinarily hot summers — the kind that were virtually unheard-of in the 1950s — have become commonplace.

This year’s scorching summer events, like heat waves rolling through southern Europe and temperatures nearing 130 degrees Fahrenheit in Pakistan, are part of this broader trend.

The chart above, based on data from James Hansen, a retired NASA climate scientist and professor at Columbia University, shows how summer temperatures have shifted toward more extreme heat over the past several decades.

To create the bell curves, Dr. Hansen and two colleagues compared actual summer temperatures for each decade since the 1980s to a fixed baseline average. During the base period, 1951 to 1980, about a third of local summer temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere were in what they called a “near average” or normal range. A third were considered cold; a third were hot.

Since then, summer temperatures have shifted drastically, the researchers found. Between 2005 and 2015, two-thirds of values were in the hot category, and nearly 15 percent were in a new category: extremely hot.

Practically, that means most summers are now either hot or extremely hot compared with the mid-20th century.

The big increase in summer temperatures under the dark red category of extreme heat is “right in line” with what scientists expect to see as the climate warms over all, said Todd Sanford, director of research at Climate Central, a nonprofit science and news organization.

For each time period above, the distribution of summer temperatures forms what is known as a bell curve because most measurements fall near the average, forming the bump – or bell – in the middle. More extreme temperatures, which happen less frequently, fall in the wings, with heat waves on the right and cold-snaps on the left.

As the curve’s average – the top of the peak – shifts rightward over time, more temperatures in more places end up in the hot and extremely hot categories and fewer end up in the cold category.

Dr. Hansen’s curves also flatten out, which some have suggested is an indication of greater temperature variability. But other climate scientists, including Zeke Hausfather, an energy systems analyst at the University of California, Berkeley, have pointed out that this effect is mainly a reflection that some parts of the world are warming faster than others. There is no evidence that temperatures are becoming more variable in most parts of the world after warming has been accounted for.

Dr. Hansen’s data “really highlight that changes in the average, while they may seem modest, have big implications for the extremes. And that’s what’s going to affect society and ecosystems,” Dr. Sanford said. The findings reveal what has happened so far, and also provide “a glimpse to what’s in our future.”