August 18

 

Today is August 18, 2021, the 230th day of the year.   On this date in 1983, Hurricane Alicia, a Category Three major storm, struck the Texas coast near Houston, killing 21 people and causing over one billion dollars in damage.  Alicia was the first hurricane to make landfall on the United States since Hurricane Allen struck South Texas in August 1980 over three years earlier, ending the longest period of the Twentieth Century without a hurricane making landfall on the U.S. coast. 

Tropical Storm Fred obviously didn't cause nearly as much damage.  According to the National Weather Service, it dropped 2.86 inches of rain on the NWS station at Peachtree City (about 35 miles south of Atlanta), beating the all-time record for this date (2.49 inches) set all the way back in 1939.  It didn't drop any trees on my house or on my block, but today I learned that a fallen tree did manage to take down power lines about a ¼ mile east of me on the other side of the park.  If a falling tree doesn't take down some power lines somewhere, is it even a storm?  If a falling tree doesn't make any sound, well, you get the idea.

Of course, my complaints are nothing compared to the suffering right now in Haiti.  The death toll from last weekend's magnitude 7.2 earthquake is now over 1,900 people with over 10,000 injured, and then Tropical Storm Grace hit the area with sustained 40 mph winds and over 10 inches of rain.  More than 7,000 homes were destroyed and nearly 5,000 were damaged. Hospitals, schools, offices, and churches were also affected.

Imagine the condo building collapse in Miami, and then multiply that by 7,000.  Then imagine a hurricane making landfill just as the rescue effort is getting underway.  Add to that picture gang violence in the surrounding area preventing humanitarian relief from reaching the area.  Due to entrenched poverty and political upheaval, the situation right now in Haiti is even worse than all that.

Speaking of humanitarian crises on a global scale, the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan will cause much misery, especially for women.  The misery has probably already started.  Finger-pointing and political gamesmanship has already begun here in the U.S. - who's to blame, what should have been done differently, how can I use this tragic situation to benefit the cause of my party?  Many Republicans are complaining that the U.S. should have been more diligent in getting our Afghani allies and friends out of the country before the government fell and I don't disagree with that sentiment, but I will point out that the following 16 U.S. congresspersons voted against an act that would have expedited visas for selected Afghani citizens, because, you know, immigration:

THE HALL OF SHAME:

• Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona
• Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado
• Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama
• Rep. Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee
• Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina
• Rep. Bob Good of Virginia
• Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona
• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia
• Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma
• Rep. Jody Hice of Georgia
• Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky
• Rep. Barry Moore of Alabama
• Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania
• Rep. Bill Posey of Florida
• Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana
• Rep. Chip Roy of Texas

They were the only 16 members of Congress to vote against the act, and every single one of them is a Republican.  They're part of the problem, not the solution.  If any one of them complains about U.S. treatment of Afghani citizens, please kindly tell them to (repeat after me) "Shut the fuck up."