Tag Archives: Hurricane Dorian

environmental news

They’re calling it ‘Sharpiegate’ … sheesh!

I wish I could have avoided referring to this latest Donald Trump controversy as a “gate”-type matter, but I guess I must.

They’re calling it “Sharpiegate” now. This is the story involving the president producing a map showing that, by golly, Alabama was in the path of Hurricane Dorian’s destruction.

You know what happened next, right? The National Weather Service contradicted the president’s assertion. Trump wouldn’t/couldn’t admit he goofed. So he trots out the map with the Sharpie-drawn line extending from the “cone of uncertainty” that the NWS had established regarding Dorian’s path.

Now the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration has weighed in. NOAA backs Trump’s assertion.

I fear all NOAA has done is feed Trump’s never-ending Twitter tirade appetite. The president will bask in whatever NOAA has presumed.

NOAA vs. NWS

How about we end this matter? How about we no longer are fixated over whether Trump drew that line extending from that cone of uncertainty. I have no doubt he did, but that shouldn’t consume us.

Oh, wait! If the media plan to let it go, will the president follow suit? Or is he going to keep stirring it up for the media to report on it … and then accuse the media of peddling “fake news”?

My head is about to explode.

media news

Social media taking aim at POTUS

If the president of the United States were a normal human being, he would feel chastened by social media’s pillorying, pummeling and pounding of him over that ridiculous Sharpie illustration on a map depicting the destructive path of Hurricane Dorian.

The president made some idiotic assertion that Alabama stood in the path of Dorian’s force. The National Weather Service said “no,” the state wasn’t threatened. Trump then produced that map with the Sharpie outline that included Alabama.

What has been social media’s response? It has been vicious. Images of Trump have shown up with Sharpie-drawn six-pack abs, of him standing “taller” than President Obama, of first lady Melania Trump grinning over her affection for Kim Jong Un … among many others.

Trump, though, doesn’t seem to be bothered by any of this. At least not outwardly. He goes about doing whatever it is he does as if nothing is wrong, as if he has said not a damn thing that the rest of us find idiotic.

His “base” of supporters don’t care, either. They continue to glom on to this individual’s word as if it is gospel. Do they know he is lying? Do they care if they know it?

This is what we get with a rewritten political playbook. Trump has tossed all the normal metrics that used to offend many of us into the crapper. How has he done that? By appealing, I reckon, to the base instincts of many Americans.

Trump challenges the National Weather Service assertions that his statements about Alabama were incorrect? Who cares?

Well, I happen to care. So do other Americans.

national news

Just say it, Mr. POTUS: Say you messed up; it’s easy to do

C’mon, Mr. President. Really and truly, it’s all right if you make a mistake. It’s OK if you misspeak.

Look, I am a severe critic of you and your presidency. I take a back seat to no one in that regard.

However, I would be more than happy to give you a pass if you were to say you messed up with that silly misstatement about Hurricane Dorian hitting Alabama. The National Weather Service — the experts on this stuff — said, um, “no” the storm would have no impact on ‘Bama.

Why, though, did you double down on that goof? You produced that phony storm-charting map with the Sharpie line crossing over Alabama.

Good grief, Mr. President. You are far from perfect. Indeed, in my view you are the farthest from perfect than any man who’s ever been elected to your high office. But, I digress.

The point here is that it’s all right for you to acknowledge you made a mistake. I do not understand why you just cannot do so. Not even on something as trivial as misstating that one of our states was in harm’s way. You made it even worse by providing that phony-baloney notion that the weather gurus had placed Alabama in Dorian’s path.

They didn’t!

Honest to goodness, Mr. President, saying you made a mistake is a sign of strength. Everyone makes ’em.

Even you.

national news

Trump’s lying might be overtaking him … finally!

Donald Trump’s lying is boundless, endless, bottomless.

He lies about big things. Little things. Important things. Trivial things.

The president recently said that Alabama was in the path of Hurricane Dorian. The weather forecasters said, um, no … it wasn’t. Did the president own a mistake, a misstatement, a slight bit of confusion? No. He made it worse.

He produced a map with a Sharpie line drawn beyond the official boundaries showing the impact that Dorian would have on the southeastern United States. Who put the line there? Who thought to include Alabama in Dorian’s path? Was it, oh, Donald Trump?

He then blathered on about early “models” showed Alabama in line to be clobbered by Dorian. No. It wasn’t. It never was part of the impact zone.

So this brings me to a critical point. Why does the president continue to lie even when a simple mea culpa would clear him even with his most ardent critics?

There is a growing line of thought that the president’s “pathology” forces him to lie. He is pathologically incapable of telling the truth. He cannot speak with any semblance of honesty on any topic at any time.

He has lied about how he made his zillions. He lies about what he witnesses at the time of national crisis. He has lied about attending funerals of “friends” who died on 9/11. Has lied about his father’s place of birth.

On and on it goes.

He lies about every single issue one can imagine.

The Alabama lie is just the latest. It also just might start to reveal even to his most ardent supporters that he cannot be trusted to tell the truth about anything at all.

That prompts another question: How do these Trump fanatics justify their continuing to stand by this pathological liar?

environmental news

Meanwhile, the Amazon forests are burning

Americans are rightly worried about the damage that Hurricane Dorian is likely to bring to the eastern coast of the United States.

I am, too.

I also am worried about the damage being done to our planet’s atmosphere by those wildfires along the Amazon River watershed. I have heard the region called the “oxygen chamber” of the planet. However, many millions of trees are destroyed by the fire, exacerbating the climate change that is plaguing Earth.

The Amazon fire story has been shoved aside for the time being, thanks partly to the rain that fell on much of the region in recent days and also because our attention has been diverted to the peril Dorian is bring to the east coast.

It’s kind of a karma thing with me. I had written a blog post just a few days before the world was startled by the immense Amazon forest fires. I remain deeply worried about the impact that deforestation has had on changing climate worldwide. That worry only deepened when we heard about the fire that incinerated so much of the forest.

We all know of the value of that forest land. It produces oxygen to replace that atmospheric compound being consumed by living creatures that inhabit Earth. With fewer trees the less oxygen is generated to counteract the carbon dioxide poured into the atmosphere.

Yes, the result is dire. It results in a warming of Earth’s atmospheric shroud and it produces dramatic and potentially catastrophic changes in our planet’s climate.

It’s never a good time for vast stretches of forest land to go up in smoke. In this period of time, as Earth’s climate is changing, those fires present a clear danger to the survival of the only planet we have.

Climate change? It is no hoax!

national news

Stay focused on the crisis, Mr. President

If only you hadn’t popped off so brazenly when Barack Obama was serving as president of the United States, Mr. President.

But you did, accusing the president of playing too much golf while the world was spinning out of control.

So, what are you doing playing all that golf while the eastern coast of the country you were elected to govern is getting set to be hammered by a monster hurricane named Dorian.

I get that you canceled your trip to Poland to “monitor” the storm as it approached the United States. Yes, I wondered whether you were more concerned about Mar-a-Lago than the citizens of the country, but I’ll give you credit at least for staying in this country while the storm strengthened.

But for criminy sakes, Mr. President, you castigated your immediate predecessor for playing gold. You said you would be too busy making America great again to play any golf while you served as president. But your golf-playing schedule has gone far and away more than anything President Obama did.

Hey, I don’t actually begrudge your golfing holidays. I know that you’re always just a phone call away from the center of the storm — pun intended, for sure.

However, you keep talking about how things look, how they affect your standing. I do not believe the notion of your enjoying a round or three of golf while millions of your fellow Americans are hunkering down make you look good.

Not at all, Mr. President.

What the hell. I want you out of office after the next presidential election as it is. If only you would understand the damage you do when you say one thing and do something else.

You don’t understand anything. That’s the problem, Mr. President, with your holding that office in the first place.

environmental news

Huh? Trump hasn’t heard of a ‘Category 5 hurricane’?

This won’t require a lot of space on which to comment, but I am baffled/confused/astounded at one of the president’s latest pronouncements.

As monstrous Hurricane Dorian bears down on the East Coast of the United States, Donald John “Environmentalist in Chief” Trump said he isn’t sure he’s ever heard of a Category 5 hurricane.

Really, Mr. President? Are you fu***** serious?

How does the guy who says he knows “more about anything” on Earth make such a claim?

He calls himself the world’s No. 1 environmentalist. He says he knows “more about ISIS than the generals, believe me.” He calls himself the “king of debt.” He says he knows how to wheel and deal with the best of ’em. Trump calls himself the best, most knowledgeable, most coherent student of any field of any kind.

So he said he doesn’t think he’s ever heard of a Cat 5 storm.

Is this individual out of his mind? Don’t answer that question. I think I know.

environmental news, national news

Trump’s ‘concern’ about Dorian … is it authentic?

It has come down to this, given Donald Trump’s abject failure to perform one of the unwritten roles of his presidency.

A massive hurricane named Dorian is bearing down on south Florida. Trump was set to fly to Poland this weekend to commemorate the start of World War II. He canceled his trip, citing his need to “monitor” the monstrous hurricane which — by the way — is threatening the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

I believe it is fair to wonder whether the president is authentically concerned about the Floridians threatened by the storm or is he more concerned about whether his glitzy palace survives the impact with minimal damage.

Yes, the cynical side of me is wondering what really is driving this president to forgo a monumental foreign trip. He could “monitor” the storm’s progress from across The Pond. He could be on the phone with FEMA managers, with first responders, with Florida government officials.

He’s staying home, though, to “monitor” the situation.

Hey, at one level I am glad he’s decided to stay home. I just wonder, though, how he’s going to respond publicly when Dorian roars ashore. I wonder whether he’s capable of saying the right things, of responding in the proper manner, of performing as “consoler in chief.”

He hasn’t done it yet, no matter the circumstance.

So, just why is Donald Trump staying home? This individual’s demonstrated lack of compassion and empathy compels me to ask.