Posts from — October 2017

Trumplethinskin™ has been having a series of tantrums that put his lack of empathy and overabundance of pettiness front and center.

Trump perceived John McCain’s remarks at the ceremony where McCain received the 2017 Liberty Medal of the National Constitution Center [text] as a personal attack because, like his favorite interior designer, Louis XIV, Trump believes that “L’etat, c’est moi.” Trump reacted by threatening McCain. McCain responded by noting: “I’ve faced far greater challenges than this.”

When the media asked why the White House hasn’t mentioned the deaths of four Special Forces NCOs in Niger, Trump headed off on a tangent that unlike Obama and earlier administrations, he sends letters and calls the next of kin of service members who are killed in action. This set off statements from former members of both the Obama and Bush staff about the response of those Presidents on the deaths of members of the military. [It is now known that the National Security Council staff prepared a statement the day after the soldiers were killed, but nothing was done with it.]

Then when Trump finally called the wife of Sgt. La David T. Johnson he told her that [her husband] “knew what he signed up for …but when it happens it hurts anyway.”

The call was on speaker phone and Congresswoman Frederica Wilson and Sgt. Johnson’s mother were also in the car. Both women agree that Trump said that, and both are angry about it and the fact that Trump never mentioned Sgt. Johnson’s name. As usual Trump denied saying that and threatened Florida Congresswoman Wilson [known for her hats].

Position: 49.2N 13.3W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North [010°] near 44 mph [70 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 85 mph [140 kph].
Wind Gusts: 110 mph [175 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 275 miles [445 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 70 miles [110 km].
Minimum central pressure: 969 mb ↓.

Currently about 220 miles [ 355 km] Southwest of Mizen Head, Ireland.

The storm has transitioned to a post-tropical cyclone. It will strike Ireland tomorrow, possibly with hurricane force winds. This is the final National Hurricane Center advisory.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 37.3N 21.5W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northeast [055°] near 28 mph [44 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 115 mph [185 kph].
Wind Gusts: 140 mph [225 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 150 miles [240 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 45 miles [ 75 km].
Minimum central pressure: 960 mb.

Currently about 305 miles [ 490 km] East of the Azores.

Ophelia is now the 6th major hurricane of the season, the 10th hurricane, the 15th named storm, and the 17th tropical cyclone in the Atlantic in 2017.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

If you have been in US scouting, the military, or a military school there are four bugle calls that you will recognize because you heard them every day:

Reveille – wake up and raise the flag.

Retreat – return to base, the duty day is done, and the flag will be lowered.

To the Color – a salute to the flag as it is being lowered.

Taps – lights out or the final salute to a fallen comrade.

The retreat ceremony predates the Revolution and originally used drum rolls until bugles became common in the mid 19th century. The practice has been traced back to James II of Britain in 1690.

Robin Williams was a comedian and donated his talent to USO shows for deployed troops. He started a show a little early and was interrupted by the retreat ceremony. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but as a professional he took his clues from his audience and stood quietly until the the ceremony was over. Then he asked what had happened.

Donald Trump is a joke who happens to be the Commander in Chief of the armed forces of the United States. When his interview with Sean Hannity at an Air National Guard base in Pennsylvania was interrupted by the retreat ceremony, Trump ignored the reaction of the military audience and continued to talk. That is not how you react when you claim to respect the flag and the military. Trump went to a military school, so he has heard the bugle calls before.

Position: 33.0N 30.6W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: East-Northeast [060°] near 20 mph [31 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 100 mph [155 kph].
Wind Gusts: 125 mph [200 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 90 miles [150 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 25 miles [ 35 km].
Minimum central pressure: 971 mb.

Currently about 400 miles [ 645 km] South-Southwest of the Azores.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 30.7N 34.7W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: East-Northeast [060°] near 7 mph [11 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 105 mph [165 kph].
Wind Gusts: 125 mph [200 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 90 miles [150 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 25 miles [ 35 km].
Minimum central pressure: 970 mb ↓.

Currently about 670 miles [1075 km] Southwest of the Azores.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

There are a number of religious sects that do not ‘honor the flag’ because they consider it a graven image. They don’t recite the Pledge of Allegiance or participate in the National Anthem.

The flag serves a real purpose that has nothing to do with politics. The first flag was adopted by the Continental Congress in 1777 to help the American forces identify friend from foe. There is a military ceremony, trooping the colors, that amounts to show-and-tell, where the troops are formed up and shown the flags of their side so they know who not to kill. Flags are military signals.

The rest of Trump’s latest faux outrage is 20th century psuedo-patriotism.Having nothing better to do after they decided that nothing could be done about the Great Depression, Congress passed a law making the Star-Spangled Banner the national anthem in 1931. John Charles Linthicum, Congresscritter from Maryland, entered 6 bills to accomplish that beginning in 1918, but it took a petition by the Veterans of Foreign Wars to finally move Congress to adopt a poem by a Maryland slave owner set to the music of a British bar song.

Trump has absolutely no claim to honoring the military based on the disrespect shown to Senator John McCain and a Gold Star family. If he had any respect for the military he should have said something about the four Green Berets killed in Africa. I doubt he knows about them, or that as Commander-in-Chief, he is supposed to know about them.

The demonstration by sports figures is covered by a Supreme Court decision:

If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us.
— Robert H. Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette

All public officials take an oath to support and defend the Constitution, not flags or songs. The Constitution says the NFL players can kneel.

Position: 30.0N 35.7W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northeast [040°] near 3 mph [ 6 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 85 mph [140 kph].
Wind Gusts: 110 mph [175 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 70 miles [110 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 25 miles [ 35 km].
Minimum central pressure: 986 mb ↓.

Currently about 745 miles [1195 km] Southwest of the Azores.

The tenth hurricane of the season at 4PM CDT.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 30.7N 37.6W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Southeast [140°] near 6 mph [ 9 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 50 mph [ 85 kph].
Wind Gusts: 75 mph [120 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 60 miles [ 95 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1002 mb ↑.

Currently about 785 miles [1265 km] Southwest of the Azores.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 32.3N 39.0W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northeast [040°] near 7 mph [11 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 50 mph [ 85 kph].
Wind Gusts: 65 mph [105 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 105 miles [165 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1002 mb ↓.

Currently about 785 miles [1260 km] West-Southwest of the Azores.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

It’s the second Monday in October, so it is Thanksgiving Day in Canada. Have a happy one.

The US Federal government has decided to call it Columbus Day, even when it isn’t on the 12^th of October which was the second Wednesday in 1492. But it’s okay that the holiday can be on the wrong day, because Christopher Columbus [AKA: Cristoforo Colombo, Cristóbal Colón] didn’t find what he was looking for and identified what he did find incorrectly. The important thing is that a large area of the map got changed from “here be dragons and sea serpents,” to “here be gold and cannibals” and no mention was made of the oppressive heat, mosquitoes, or hurricanes.

[Read more →]

Position: 33.1N 87.3W [10AM CDT 1500 UTC].
Movement: North-Northeast [030°] near 24 mph [39 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [ 55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 996 mb ↑.

Currently about 40 miles [ 65 km] Southwest of Birmingham, Alabama.

All Tropical Watches and Warnings have been cancelled. This is the final advisory on Nate by the National Hurricane Center.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Despite the fact that Nate is not a real threat to Cinco Bayou, the third-world nature of utilities on the Florida Panhandle may mean that I might disappear for a while. The electrical utilities have a standing mutual assistance agreement in place, but New Orleans, the casinos in Biloxi & Gulfport, Mobile, and Pensacola have priority over Cinco Bayou, Holt, Wing, and the other small towns along the coast.

Position: 29.9N 89.1W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North [360°] near 20 mph [31 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 85 mph [140 kph].
Wind Gusts: 110 mph [175 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 125 miles [205 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 35 miles [ 55 km].
Minimum central pressure: 984 mb ↑.

Currently about 60 miles [ 95 km] East of New Orleans and about 35 miles [ 60 km] South-Southwest of Biloxi, Mississippi.

Nate is making landfall on the Mississippi coast at around 10PM CDT.

I am now under Tropical Storm & Storm Surge Warnings, and a Tornado Watch. The storm is currently about 155 miles [ 250 km] West-Southwest of Cinco Bayou, Florida.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for the Mouth of the Pearl River to the Alabama/Florida border.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Metropolitan New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain; Lake Maurepas and west of Grand Isle to the Mouth of the Pearl River; East of the Alabama/Florida border to Indian Pass, Florida.

A Storm Surge Warning is in effect for the Mouth of the Mississippi River to the Okaloosa/Walton County Line, Florida.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]