September 11, 2018: Warmer Ocean Waters, Warmer Gulf of Mexico - Bad Results

 

9/11/18: The entire coast of South Carolina is under a mandatory evacuation order as Hurricane Florence, a Category 4 storm churns toward landfall. Florence has been picking up added strength as it passes over Atlantic waters that in places are three degrees warmer than normal. And if you think humanity can’t degrade its environment you don’t know your history, or your current events. 

As scientist have predicted, higher temperatures mean more water evaporates and rises into the air. The warmer air turns moisture into vapor and the vapor remains suspended. The warmer air “holds” the vapor longer and more intense rainstorms result. Consider Hurricane Harvey, which dumped a record 51.88 inches of rain on Houston in what experts described as a “once-in-a-thousand-years flood” last summer.

 

Consider a second warning sign as waters off Florida heat. Hotter waters are a perfect breeding ground for harmful microorganisms. As of today, a “red tide” of toxic algae, stretching 130 miles along the Florida Gulf Coast has remained in place since November 2017. Toxins released by the algae kill fish, manatees, sea turtles and other marine mammals. The sight and smell of rotting fish and other sea creatures littering the sands keeps tourists away. Like President Trump, Florida Governor Rick Scott thinks there are too many regulations protecting the environment. Now he has been forced to declare a state of emergency for seven counties “where waterways and coastlines are filled with putrid fish floating in brass-colored water.” 

“Red tides” are increasingly common, just as scientists predicted, as oceans round the world heat.

Red tides are a result of warmer-than-normal water -

as are more intense hurricanes.

September 12-13, 2018: Hurricane Florence Bears Down on Carolina Coast - Trump Bitching About Puerto Rico Death Count

 

9/12-13/18: With Hurricane Florence bearing down on the Carolina coast, the president decides this would be the perfect time to start bitching about how everyone is out to get him. And, no, he says, not that many people died when Puerto Rico was pummeled by hurricanes in 2017. 

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Trump decides to make a story about death and destruction all about him.

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Plus, you figure Trump doesn’t care how many Puerto Ricans died, anyway. They’re not rich white folks. 

Nor do they vote in presidential elections. 

Incredibly, Trump decides to make a story about death and destruction all about him. People were killed in the storm? Thousands saw homes and property destroyed? Parts of the island were without electricity for over a year? Well, he, Donald J. Trump, is the real victim. 

Why is Trump sad? He’s not getting the credit he deserves for his “unsung success” in dealing with the damage in Puerto Rico. How much credit does he believe he deserves? He has already given himself an “A+” for his work in handling the hurricane disasters that hit Texas and Florida. He expects everyone else to give him “A+” grades too. Is there anything higher? 

If so, he deserves it.

A normal human being would focus on the devastation in Puerto Rico. 

Trump makes the focus himself.

 

Originally, the death toll in Puerto Rico was thought to be only 16 or 17, remarkable in view of catastrophic structural damage that resulted when a Cat 4 hurricane hit, followed by a Cat 5, not long afterward. Trump bragged about the low death toll compared to the loss of life from Katrina in 2005. 

Puerto Ricans slowly put their lives back together – and the federal government did help. The death toll rose to 64. 

With conditions returning to normal, a team of researchers from George Washington University went to work. They spent six months poring over death certificates and comparing mortality rates, before and after the storm. They talked to eyewitnesses. They talked to doctors. They talked to funeral home directors. They consulted with hospital administrators. The real death toll from the paired storms, researchers estimated was not 16 or 17, or 64, but 2,975. 

Each death was a human tragedy; but Trump cared only about one storm victim. Himself. If the toll were higher, he couldn’t brag about the A+ job he had done. “SAD!” as he might put it in a tweet. 

So, tweet he did: 

3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico. When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000...

 

.....This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible [emphasis added] when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico. If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico! 

 

This was classic Trump. First, he was wrong in his facts. The report wasn’t put together by Democrats, but by researchers from George Washington University. Second, they adjusted the death toll, accounting for age and all kinds of factors. Third, no one was “blaming” Trump. Most of the deaths would have occurred no matter who was sitting in the Oval Office. (But the president had opened himself up for criticism when he bragged about the low death toll last year.) Fourth, he sounded like an asshole – which, in fact, he is. He only cared about himself, how much praise he could reap. He didn’t care about the 16 or 17 who died, or the 64, or the 3,000. 

He didn’t care about anyone save himself. 

In the face of withering criticism for his soulless comments, Trump decided to double down. He re-tweeted a link to Lou Dobbs, so that all his fans could listen to Lou howl. How dare researchers estimate that nearly 3,000 Puerto Ricans died! The numbers are “inflated,” Dobbs bellowed. It’s the “media” again, out to get the president – by quoting researchers! Why not use a report issued by Harvard, which, in Dobbs’ mind undercuts the findings in the GWU report! According to Dobbs, the Harvard study put the estimated death toll between 800 and 8,000. That means, in Nut-Job World, that the estimate of 3,000 in the GWU study can’t possibly be correct. 

So, the real toll must be closer to 16 or 17 or 64, the highest number Dobbs is willing to cite. 

Here, then, we have another neat right-wing math trick, since Dobbs has just used a Harvard study to “undercut” the George Washington study, but the lowest estimate by Harvard is 800 dead. 

And the highest is way worse…

September 14, 2018: A Pathetic President Airs His Hurt on Twitter

 

9/14/18: The president apparently learns his lesson after pretty much everyone says he sounds like an ass arguing about how many people died in Puerto Rico. 

Meanwhile, another hurricane smashes into North and South Carolina and floods large parts of both states. 

At first, Trump avoids fresh trouble. His first fifteen tweets today relate to hurricane warnings, “6 inches of moving water can knock an adult off their feet;” and if you are ordered to evacuate, “Turn off the gas, electricity.”  

There’s even this: “RT @FEMAespanol: Hoy es el último día para desalojar. Si está en la ruta de #Florence, escuche a las autoridades locales para órdenes de de…” 

Then: “Incredible job being done by FEMA, First Responders, Law Enforcement and all. Thank you!” 

Which is to say, “I did this. Me. I organized this incredible job being done. Me, myself and I. We all agree. I am the best.”

 

Eight more hurricane-warning-type tweets follow, which are fine. But Trump can’t help himself. Trump has to be Trump. Suddenly, he’s arguing about the death count in Puerto Rico again, using four tweets to defend himself and his record as the greatest hurricane savior of all time. 

Finally, he wraps it up for the night at 10:08 p.m. with the most irrelevant tweet in the storied career of President Twitter Thumbs. “When President Obama said that he has been to ‘57 States,’ very little mention in Fake News Media. Can you imagine if I said that...story of the year!” 

Having slammed his predecessor unnecessarily, content at last, Twitter Thumbs trundles off to bed.

This is probably a slip born of fatigue, possibly, he was going to say 47,

with one more to visit, and Hawaii and Alaska ruled out.

Trump thinks this is a terrible mistake. 

September 16, 2018: Hurricane Florence Batters Carolina's - Trump Feels Sorry for Himself

 

9/16/18: Trump sleeps late Sunday, after a hard day of dealing with reality Saturday. Naturally, his first thoughts when he wakes are for the families of the 14 dead in North and South Carolina, the 400 people who had to be rescued from flooded New Bern and the people of Lumberton trying to keep flood waters from breaking a levee and causing toxic materials to spill from a nearby coal ash pit. You know the president is worried about people downstream from various pig farms, where thousands of gallons of pig manure may mix with flood waters, and a million people without power across the two states. Hurricane Florence has set records for rainfall in North Carolina, dumping more than 30 inches in places, breaking by six inches a record set by Hurricane Floyd just a decade ago. (See: climate change; 9/11/18.) 

Yes, Trump is deeply concerned about the… 

No, of course he’s not! Donald J. Trump has less capacity for empathy than a full-grown zucchini.

 

His very first inclination upon rising is to tweet about how it’s so unfair that people who worked for his campaign keep confessing to felonious activities in various courts. His 9:20 a.m. post: 

The illegal Mueller Witch Hunt continues in search of a crime. There was never Collusion with Russia, except by the Clinton campaign, so the 17 Angry Democrats are looking at anything they can find. Very unfair and BAD for the country. ALSO, not allowed under the LAW!

 

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IN OTHER NEWS Republican mega-donor Seth Klarman announces plans to support Democrat candidates in the midterm elections, telling The New York Times, he believes “democracy is at stake [emphasis added].” 

 

Spineless in the face of the president. 

Klarman donated $2.9 million to Republicans in 2016, but now explains: “We need to turn the House and Senate as a check on Donald Trump and his runaway presidency.” 

Republicans in Congress, he says, have been “spineless” in the face of the president. They’re “profiles in cowardice.” 

He says he’s willing to spend up to $20 million in 2018 in hopes Democrats can retake at least one if not both houses of Congress and “act as a check and balance” on a dangerous fool in the Oval Office.

September 18, 2018: Scientists Doing Scientists - Politicians Ignoring Them

 

9/18/18: Scientists are clear about climate change. A warming atmosphere means more water vapor in the air, heavier rains, and more of them. 

Hurricanes also gather strength from warmer oceans. 

 

Scientists doing science…politicians ignoring them. 

There’s nothing complicated with the science – but America has a science idiot in the White House. 

For a little light reading, simply go to NASA’s website and start worrying about what they’re reporting. 

If that doesn’t cause you to spit out your morning coffee, visit the website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That is: Scientists doing science.

The warning signs are right there on the bottom.

 

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THE DEATH TOLL from Hurricane Florence reaches 33. Experts say there was a 0.1% chance a single storm would dump so much rain on the region, meaning Florence would be a “once-in-a-thousand-years” event. 

Wilmington, N.C. received a record 26.58 inches of rain. 

Flooding is widespread. Many rivers are expected to rise to record levels. The Lumber River has already hit 22.21 feet, a record. The Washington Post notes that besides the Lumber, the: 

Cape Fear, Neuse and Black rivers in North Carolina, which also flooded during Hurricane Matthew in 2016, will set records this week.

 

In Fayetteville, N.C., the Cape Fear River surpassed flood stage early Sunday after rising 20 feet in 24 hours [emphasis added]. It won’t hit major flood stage in Fayetteville until Monday night, according to the National Weather Service, and will peak around 62 feet – three feet higher than its maximum crest in Hurricane Matthew.

 

In South Carolina, the Pee Dee and Waccamaw rivers are expected to crest sometime Saturday, also at record levels. 

Flood-related pollution is expected to complicate recovery. Four coal ash holding ponds have already been breached, dumping heavy metals like arsenic and mercury in the water. Near Lake Sutton, enough coal ash slurry spilled from a holding pond to fill 150 dump trucks. Nine hog “lagoons” filled with manure from industrial farms have been inundated. Seventeen others are threatened. 

First, your house is flooded. 

Second, you have pig poo fouling the water. 

Third, North Carolina lawmakers – Republican ones – might want to rethink the way they look at climate change. A law passed in 2012 ordered state and local agencies to ignore scientific models that predict rising sea levels when determining coastal development policies.

 

Michael Mann, a climate expert at Penn State, cautions that Trump administration policies, added to willful blindness at the state level, will only add to future problems. Florence, “fueled in part by bathwater-hot Atlantic Ocean temperatures” churned across the Carolinas at the same time Trump was ordering “another assault on policies aimed at curbing carbon emissions.” 

Future generations are going to pay for our sins. How bad are those sins? A Danish vessel, the Venta Maersk, is currently sailing through the Arctic Ocean. The ship left Vladivostok on August 23, steamed north through the Bering Strait, then turned east across the top of Russia. Since humankind first learned to travel by sea, this route has never been open without the aid of powerful icebreakers. Now, the Arctic is warming at a rate twice as fast as the rest of the planet and ice is retreating. Since 1979, Arctic ice has been shrinking by 33,220 square miles annually. That means every four years an area the size of New Mexico is ice-free for the first time. 

Scientists are beyond worried.

A journey never before possible in recorded history.

September 19, 2018: News Flash - Trump Says Hurricane Was Wet!

 

9/19/18: The president spends much of the day inspecting hurricane and flood damage in North Carolina. “This is a tough hurricane, one of the wettest we’ve ever seen from the standpoint of water,” he says at one point. 

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“One of the wettest we’ve ever seen from the standpoint of water” 

President Trump, inarticulate, as ever

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“Rarely have we had an experience like it, and it certainly is not good.” He mentions the “incredible” people of affected states. “There’s been a loss of life. May God be with them and their families. That’s a tough one, it’s tough to understand, but this has been a really difficult period of time for a lot of people.” 

“Florence has been a nasty one, a big one, like that area has never seen before, so the waters are still rising…” he adds, before closing with a blessing to those affected. 

That’s true, Mr. President. A storm like Florence, that far north, has never been seen before. 

Any idea why? (See: 9/17//18 and 9/18/18.)

Another astute observation from this president.

Water is wet.

 

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“It was very unfair what he did.” 

IN AN INTERVIEW with The Hill.TV, the president lashes out at Jeff Sessions, saying, “I don’t have an Attorney General.” 

I’m so sad over Jeff Sessions because he came to me. He was the first senator that endorsed me. And he wanted to be Attorney General, and I didn’t see it. But he came very strongly he really wanted to be. And, I let him be. And then he went through the nominating process and he did very poorly. I mean, he was mixed up and confused, and people that worked with him for, you know, a long time in the Senate were not nice to him, but he was giving very confusing answers. Answers that should have been easily answered. And that was a rough time for him.

 

Trump demurs on whether he might one day fire the attorney general. “We’ll see what happens. A lot of people have asked me to do that. And I guess I study history, and I say I just want to leave things alone, but it was very unfair what he did,” he said, referring to the recusal decision.

He concluded: “We’ll see how it goes with Jeff. I’m very disappointed in Jeff. Very disappointed.”