Hurricane Milton

[Teenwolf]

This one looks like it's going to be huge. Storm surge projected to be 10-15 ft. So many people are gonna die.

Anybody evacuating?

[Sour Masher]

I have family in South Florida, but it looks like they won't be severely impacted, so they are all staying put. I'm hopeful anyone in Central Florida in an evacuation zone heeds the warnings. The storm surge for this one seems to be the biggest danger, so anyone close to the water is at the greatest risk.

[madducks]

Taylor Swift has donated $5 million toward hurricane relief efforts. And Dolly Parton has donated $1 million.

So, where are the donations from Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Buffet, Gates, etc? Those guys could all spare a billion and still have 100-200 billion left.

[madducks]

Marjorie Taylor Greene is claiming that Democrats control the weather and are aiming the hurricanes and tornadoes at red states. When are Georgia voters going to get rid of this idiot who stirs up all the other idiots?

[Kevin Seitzer]

Marjorie Taylor Greene is claiming that Democrats control the weather and are aiming the hurricanes and tornadoes at red states. When are Georgia voters going to get rid of this idiot who stirs up all the other idiots?

I have driven through Georgia's Congressional District 14, and let's just say that the frequency of Confederate flags flying there is noticeably higher than elsewhere in the state, or really anywhere else I've been in the South.

[madducks]

I have driven through Georgia's Congressional District 14, and let's just say that the frequency of Confederate flags flying there is noticeably higher than elsewhere in the state, or really anywhere else I've been in the South.

So, she is truly a representative of the people and may never get voted out. Yikes.

[Sour Masher]

So, she is truly a representative of the people and may never get voted out. Yikes.

That is the scary reality I don't like to face. When I see idiots like her in power, it is hard for me to accept that they got voted in on purpose by people who agree with them and are just as ill-informed. It is hard to imagine a majority in a sample size as big as a congressional district being that dumb, collectively, but here we are.

[Kevin Seitzer]

That is the scary reality I don't like to face. When I see idiots like her in power, it is hard for me to accept that they got voted in on purpose by people who agree with them and are just as ill-informed. It is hard to imagine a majority in a sample size as big as a congressional district being that dumb, collectively, but here we are.

Well, I think the primary system plus the political polarization and tribalism in our country makes this worse. It may not be that 51% of the people in her district want her, but 51% of the most politically active Republicans in her district do?

[Sour Masher]

Well, I think the primary system plus the political polarization and tribalism in our country makes this worse. It may not be that 51% of the people in her district want her, but 51% of the most politically active Republicans in her district do?

Yes, but as soon as that parsing makes me feel a bit better, I am reminded that when faced with such abhorrent, unsupported ideas, fervently held by a minority of constituents, not enough of those who know better care to combat that fervor with enough passion to get out and vote in sufficient numbers to overcome it. And the primary system should allow the worst candidates to be weeded out, but sadly they are often raised up over better informed candidates instead. Surely, someone who would have followed a similar voting pattern, but who had more than two braincells to rub together could have been put forth at the best candidate the party had to offer in her district, and others now controlled by people who seem to have an extreme allergic reaction to facts and logic, and trade primarily in unfounded FUD.

[Sour Masher]

Back on topic, a friend of mine who lives in Palm Beach county sent me a video of a tornado that hit her neighborhood. They live far enough away from the eye of the storm that they figured nothing to crazy would happen, but a twister formed not more than a dozen houses away from them and did damage to some houses close by. Luckily, it seems like it was a low level twister, and I don't think anyone got seriously hurt, but I have never seen one form in a residential area like that, even though I lived in Florida much of my life and Florida, surprisingly, has more tornadoes per square mile than any other state.

[madducks]

Not Milton but....Damage from Hurricane Helene has caused a nationwide IV fluid shortage. Production was halted at a Baxter International manufacturing facility in North Cove, North Carolina, located about an hour east from Asheville. Baxter is the largest manufacturer (60%) of IV fluid in the U.S. Hospitals are now postponing elective surgeries to conserve supplies.