Welcome! "What's Happenin'?" is a casual community diary (a daily series, 8:30 AM Eastern on weekdays, 10 AM on weekends and holidays) where we hang out and talk about the goings on here and everywhere.
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Sunflower. (Photo by joanneleon. August, 2012)
“It's not something you can adapt to. We can't let it go on another 10 years like this. We've got to do something.”
~ James Hansen
Where We Going To Go (Global Warming / Climate Change Song)
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News and Opinion
Frankenstorms and Climate Change: How the 1% Created a Monster
The obsession that took over Victor, his growing alienation from the world, which makes him forsake friends, family, even sustenance, is echoed on a global scale by the unquenchable thirst for profits of the global capitalist monster, which eats through our lives and our planet in search of fresh fields for exploitation and growth. The fact that Victor’s uncontrollable quest consumed him in its flames when his creation turned against him won’t stop similar warning signs preventing capitalism eating itself — and taking the rest of the planet down with it.
[...]
As the climate continues to warm, the effect will only increase, leading to more extreme weather events, flooding and drought, as outlined in two recent Nature articles.
And warm it will. Not because we don’t have answers to prevent that from happening and derive our energy from sources other than fossil fuels, but because it’s simply too profitable to change. There is a compulsion inherent to capitalism; the propellant force of profit that powers further growth in a perpetual feedback loop, whereby the colossal forces of production are testing the limits of the planet to absorb the battering its biosphere is taking.
Climate Change and Historic Superstorm Sandy: 70+ Dead, Streets Submerged, Millions Without Power
Carribean, and left more than seven million without power from North Carolina to Massachusetts. Parts of New York City were submerged under water as high as 13 feet, flooding a number of subway stations and causing blackouts. Sandy made landfall in New Jersey Monday night near Atlantic City after being downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone. But it still brought hurricane-force winds and rain, making it one of the largest storms the United States has ever seen. A snowstorm swept inland dropping heaving snowfall across Appalachia and shutting down large sections of the interstate in West Virginia and Maryland. Estimates of the damage so far have reached as high as $20 billion. Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman broadcasts from the road in Salt Lake City, working with our team in New York City, under blackout conditions, to bring you updates and analysis on the storm's damage, its potential risks for East Coast nuclear facilities, and its connection to global warming. We’re joined by Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at the Weather Underground.
Microgrids could bring big green changes to power systems
Sandy may look bad now, but could it (and the other Frankenstorms before it) actually inspire change? If enough power goes down, if enough damage is done, if enough people demand it — well, maybe. But that change would be small. Micro, in fact.
Report: 300,000-gallon oil spill in Staten Island's Arthur Kill waterway
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- About 300,000 gallons of diesel fuel have been spilled into the Arthur Kill waterway that separates Staten Island's West Shore and New Jersey, according to a report by NBC New York.
The leak comes from the Motiva oil tank facility, NBC says, citing the Coast Guard. A total of 200 workers are now attempted to contain the spill.
They are saying that this is a "water tanker". Staten Island was hit hard.
Tanker Run Aground by Superstorm Sandy
The front third of the tanker is grounded into Front Street. The city’s waterfront was largely destroyed, which includes a number of businesses on the water.
The 168-foot tanker was moored about a mile away when Sandy’s powerful force propelled it toward land.
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As Floodwaters Recede, Sandy's Death Toll Grows
Hours earlier, at the height of the storm, Ms. Moore's two young sons, Connor, 4 years old, and Brendan, 2, were swept from her arms after the big vehicle became trapped on a flooded road and she unbuckled them from the seats to head for dry land, she later told police.
[...]
The whereabouts of the two boys is one of the more mysterious episodes related to the storm, but several other children's bodies were among recently discovered deaths, a toll that jumped to at least 72 across eight states.
[...]
But several of the newly identified bodies apparently fell victim to the storm's raging floodwaters that rushed into homes across the region.
New York police reported that a neighbor found the body of Hugh Senpo, 87, lying face down in a living room underwater in his Coney Island, Brooklyn, home on Tuesday afternoon. Later that day, near midnight, the body of Anna Gesso, 62, was found floating in the basement of a home on Staten Island.
In Newark, N.J., a 47-year-old man was found drowned inside his vehicle Tuesday afternoon as a result of Sandy, city officials said. An initial investigation by the Newark police found that the man had perished in his car the night before and was discovered Tuesday after high waters subsided.
Hoboken is in really bad shape. I saw a reporter yesterday standing in the waters in the street. She said the smell of oil/gas was so strong that the residents are suffering from it. It sounds like there has not been a lot of help here yet though the National Guard rescued some people who were stranded. The waters are horrible, toxic. They told people who have small children and women who are pregnant to leave. I don't know if Hoboken was asked to evacuate before the storm. I don't think it was. It's slightly below sea level, apparently, and has to be pumped out.
Hoboken After Hurricane Sandy
Lucy the Elephant 1881 novelty house survived Sandy
photo by Patrick Armstrong
A summary of some of the numbers, "comprehensive public information statement", for those who are interested.
A SUMMARY OF RAINFALL, WIND, PRESSURE AND TIDAL/SURGE REPORTS FROM
SANDY.
THE FOLLOWING ARE UNOFFICIAL OBSERVATIONS TAKEN DURING THE PAST 54
HOURS FOR THE STORM THAT HAS BEEN AFFECTING OUR REGION. APPRECIATION
IS EXTENDED TO HIGHWAY DEPARTMENTS...COOPERATIVE OBSERVERS...SKYWARN
SPOTTERS AND MEDIA FOR THESE REPORTS. THIS SUMMARY IS ALSO AVAILABLE
ON OUR HOME PAGE AT WEATHER.GOV/PHI
More...
Hurricane deductibles will not be invoked in NJ, which is good news for property owners. Wonder if the insurance companies will fight this ruling.
Ruling on Sandy aids owners of homes with wind damage
The National Weather Service labeled Sandy a post-tropical cyclone, not a hurricane, when it made landfall Monday evening at the Jersey Shore. That distinction will mean thousands of dollars in cost savings for homeowners who suffered wind damage and who have homeowner's policies that include hurricane deductibles.
Kenneth Kobylowski, the state's acting commissioner of banking and insurance, took the cue from the federal agency and ruled late Tuesday that the storm was not a hurricane for insurance purposes, because the weather service changed the designation of the storm before it hit New Jersey.
"The hurricane deductible does not apply," Ed Rogan, a state spokesman, said late Tuesday. "We will be sending out formal bulletins to insurers [today]."
[...]
Homeowner's policies typically require the homeowner to pay either the first $500 or the first $1,000 of damage, according to the Insurance Information Institute. However, when a hurricane deductible is applied, it is often based on a percentage of the total coverage amount, and a homeowner with a $400,000 policy would be responsible for anywhere from $4,000 to $20,000 of damage.
Atlantic City Press:
Brigantine welcomes Obama during tour of storm damage
Obama landed on Air Force One at Atlantic City International Airport where he was greeted by Gov. Chris Christie. The two immediately boarded a presidential helicopter to tour the destruction along the South Jersey shoreline and later traveled by motorcade to Brigantine Beach Community Center where the president met with city residents who have been evacuated from their homes or affected by the storm, such as a shaken Melissa Inskip.
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Also ordered to stay in the area was a five-men crew from Lafayette Construction in Absecon, who brought their dump trucks and other machinery, and said they were instructed to park the equipment in front of the community center in order to block line of sight into the building as the president walked in and out.
“We’re doing the American thing, protecting the president with our equipment,” Tom Babecki said .
The crew — which included Brian Egan, Ron Salmon, Paul Perry and Michael Hicks — had spent the past two days working 18-hour shifts clearing debris from the north end of Brigantine where much of the storm devastation was concentrated. On Wednesday, after dropping off their equipment, the five were ordered to keep at least one block away from the center.
[...]
The president, who has signed a major disaster declaration for much of New Jersey, pledged to get the aid into the state. In fact, he arrived into the region with Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator W. Craig Fugate, and a cadre of agency workers converged on the Brigantine community center after the president had left where they answered questions from storm victims and handed out contact information.
“Our main focus is on New Jersey, who got hit harder than anyone,” Obama said.
Inside the marina, Nicole Baerga, 15, was among those who shook the president’s hand.
“It was a good handshake,” the Atlantic City High School sophomore said. “His hand was warm. It was really cool.”
There was no photographic proof, she said, because cell phones weren’t allowed, but she had a shot of Obama getting into his car — or at least the open door and the Secret Service agent standing by it.
Atlantic City Press editorial:
Recovering from Sandy / Power of nature
So, Lesson No. 1 from Sandy: When the wind is screaming, trees are falling and wires are sparking, when your house is flooded and your streets are impassable - whether you are a conservative or a liberal, it sure is nice to see those National Guard trucks, Coast Guard helicopters, local firefighters, police officers, public-works crews and all the other public employees who are out there as you read this, still trying to restore some normalcy to our worlds.
Lesson No. 2: Just about nobody likes their electric company - but we sure do love those linemen. A big thanks to the crews in the bucket trucks.
Lesson No. 3 (actually more of a reminder): Politics sure does make strange bedfellows. One of the oddest storm sights had to be Republican Gov. Chris Christie touring damaged areas with President Barack Obama. Christie was even praising Obama as the storm approached for the president's pre-landfall disaster declaration, which will speed federal aid to coastal South Jersey.
[...]
Lesson No. 4: Dunes work. Yes, some were breached, some destroyed. But overall, the damage appears to have been worse where there were no dunes. Ventnor, the most recent recipient of a massive beach-replenishment project, weathered the storm with its Boardwalk intact and its beaches in good shape. Opponents of dune projects might want to bear that in mind.
From the Asbury Park Press, some video of the shoreline farther north -- this is where the worst of the damage is -- This video covers Long Beach Island, just north of Atlantic City, and above that.
6 stunning APP aerial videos show Sandy's Shore damage
The Gothamist.
Photos, Video: Exploring The Blacked Out East Village After Dark
Thanks to Hurricane Sandy much of lower Manhattan doesn't have power, and won't for some time. Which means that once night falls the famously jumping East Village is suddenly anything but. If you think you know the East Village after dark, you haven't seen it after dark with no lights. Last night Dan Nguyen was on the scene though and filed an impressive gallery of what it is like right now. Spooky doesn't even begin to cover it.
Outrage In The Powerless Zone: A Dispatch From Downtown Manhattan
Mayor Bloomberg said last night that we've come to "the end of the downside" of Hurricane Sandy—hey, if you can spare $150 and a cab ride, you can join him at the very first Brooklyn Nets game tomorrow [...] Jonathan Maimon lives in Downtown Brooklyn, [...] Based on what he saw, he thinks that perhaps the city is moving on too quickly.
I just returned from Manhattan. I ran for 5 hours with stops, covering 12 miles in total, scoping the island from west to east. You will not hear these stories from the Mayor or Governor; these are my observations, informed by discussions with real people who live in lower Manhattan:
1) Virtually every retailer, restaurant and grocery store south of 38th street is CLOSED. This is in an area covering 8 square miles. I only observed a handful of bodegas in Soho and the East Village, along with Ben’s Pizza on W3rd and MacDougal serving customers. Whole Foods Union Square had a sign reading “because there is no electricity, we cannot open.” There is no food, other than what you have in your refrigerator.
2) To that point, there are close to 400,000 people living below 38th street without power. The mayor earlier said it could be 3 days without power; some Con Ed guys I spoke with in the East Village think it could be longer. Nobody knows.
3) No working traffic lights in this region (drivers are generally being cautious and appropriately yielding to pedestrians). Apartment stairwells are pitch black. High rises have no elevator access.
4) For now, this is an economic crisis - hourly workers cannot be paid, freelancers have no clients, small businesses have no sales, office buildings are shuttered. In my estimate, the lost output is $1 billion dollars EVERY SINGLE DAY that goes by without power for lower Manhattan. Included in this number is the shutdown of our major airports and transportation system. (Note that NYC’s economy generates $2.8 bn daily and over $1 trillion annually - which makes it the world’s 17th largest economy, if it was a country).
5) There is no running water or flushing toilets for people living in the Jacob Riis Houses and surrounding NYCHA buildings on the Lower East Side. In my estimate, this is roughly 20,000 people. One family I spoke with is packing their bags and moving to Brooklyn until services are restored. But it did not appear that all residents were evacuating, even as their toilets did not flush.
6) I did not witness a single Red Cross Truck or FEMA Vehicle or in lower Manhattan. Recall the assistance these agencies provided after 9/11 - this is NOT HAPPENING. There are bound to be hundreds of elderly people, rich and poor, who live on the upper floors of buildings with elevators that are now disabled. IF POWER IS NOT RESTORED, THIS WILL MOVE FROM BEING AN ECONOMIC DISASTER TO A HUMANITARIAN DISASTER.
7) If you think Chinatown normally has an unpleasant odor, imagine what it smells like 24 hours following no refrigeration. Street vendors were trying to unload perishables at bargain prices. I saw a fish weighing roughly 20 pounds and spanning 3 feet from head to tail go to a buyer for $1 dollar. $1 dollar!!!!! [Here's video he sent us.]
8) The substation responsible for the outage is a huge facility. It spans an entire avenue from Avenue C to D and a length of street from 13th to 14th. If crews have to inspect every coil and wire, it might be MORE THAN THREE DAYS UNTIL POWER IS RESTORED. Additionally, the site did not appear staffed with many Con Ed workers. As a note, the 2003 blackout lasted 15 hours.
9) The water from the storm surge was invariably contaminated - floating garbage, wood pieces from the dock, and possibly sewage. One Nuyorican woman who lived on Avenue C near 12th street noted the water level peaked above her waist. She was still visibly shaken this afternoon. She also recalled a huge noise at 8 pm when the substation failed. The sky, in her words, turned from black to green
10) There were some very generous things. Northern Spy Food Co. served lunch to everyone who lined up outside their restaurant at Avenue A and 12th street - polenta, pork buns, chicken, biscuits and freshly baked cookies. They get props in my book; all this food was served to locals at no charge.
The Twisted Logic of Drone Warfare
The main argument for using attack drones is that they are hurting the “enemy” and draining him of his strength and will to fight. But this then begs a simple question. Is that true?
The Pentagon has about 7,000 drones at its disposal, not all of them being for attack purposes. One region that has seen their greatest use is the Afghanistan / Pakistan theatre, or “AfPak” as the area is commonly called. For several years now a sustained targeted drone campaign has been carried in an effort to weaken the “insurgents” (who are, for the most part, local Afghan fighters). It has been estimated that over the past decade somewhere between 1,800 to 3,100 people have been killed in the region by US drone strikes. And while the US government would argue that the vast majority of the people killed were combatants, some estimates show that for every “insurgent” killed, 10 civilians were also killed.
So are drones effective at reducing the will of the “enemy” to fight? Recent figures out of Afghanistan are discouraging. The number of attacks reportedly carried out by “insurgents” in the period from April to June 2012 was actually 11% higher than during the same period of 2011. This resulted in almost 110 attacks a day during the month of June 2012, the highest number of attacks for that month since the war began. These statistics do not appear to be in line with an effective counterterrorism policy that is sapping the will of the enemy to fight. On the contrary, one could argue that drone strikes are only encouraging more violence on the part of the “insurgents.”
Bizarre story. Bernanke's top priority was jobs and full employment? Since when?
Bernanke Depression Guru Seeks Roosevelt Well-Being
Bernanke’s shift to emphasizing employment goals is one of the hallmarks in a grueling two-term chairmanship that spanned the worst financial crisis and recession since the Great Depression and a slow labor-market recovery that pinned joblessness above 8 percent for 43 months. The presidential campaign has put the Fed in transition as Republican candidate Mitt Romney said he’d replace Bernanke, though former colleagues doubt he will stay on, no matter who wins.
Bernanke has explicitly returned the U.S. central bank to the broader, more balanced goal that Franklin Roosevelt described in 1937 as seeking “the greatest attainable measure of economic well-being, the largest degree of economic security and stability” when the then-president inaugurated the Fed’s Beaux Arts-inspired Washington headquarters.
[...]
The force with which Bernanke has attacked joblessness has distinguished him, Dudley said. By expanding the central bank’s balance sheet to a record of almost $3 trillion through asset- purchase programs and keeping the federal funds rate near zero for an unprecedented four years, Bernanke has established himself as history’s most bold and experimental Fed chairman in trying to spur growth.
Blog Posts and Tweets of Interest
The Evening Blues - 10-31-12
Biden: Anti-transgender discrimination "the civil rights issue of our time"
Since I haven't got anything better to do at 3 freakin' O'clock in the morning
Foxes Are to Hen House Security as Bankers Are to Occupy Wall Street
Creeping Unemployment in the New Battlegrounds: PA and MI
No prank: On Halloween, US military forces train for zombie apocalypse
Climate change song "The Shadows" by Sandel
Remember when progressive debate was about our values and not about a "progressive" candidate? Remember when progressive websites championed progressive values and didn't tell progressives to shut up about values so that "progressive" candidates can get elected?
Come to where the debate is not constrained by oaths of fealty to persons or parties.
Come to where the pie is served in a variety of flavors.
"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum." ~ Noam Chomsky
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