A Republican member of the Georgia House of Representatives issued a veiled threat of lynching to a black former colleague who expressed anti-Confederate memorial sentiments on his Facebook.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia State Rep. Jason Spencer (R) did exactly that on a Facebook post when former state representative LaDawn Jones expressed a distaste for a photo he took with a Confederate monument.
“This is Georgia’s history,” Spencer wrote on a post accompanied by a selfie he took with a South Georgia monument to Confederate president Jefferson Davis.
Jones, who formerly served in the state legislature until last year, questioned whether state tax dollars help pay for the upkeep of the memorial, which includes the house Davis fled to after the Civil War ended. A few comments in, Spencer began making threatening allusions.
“Continue your quixotic journey into South Georgia and it will not be pleasant,” Spencer replied. “The truth. Not a warning. Those folks won’t put up with it like they do in Atlanta.”
“I can guarantee you won’t be met with torches but something a lot more definitive,” he continued, responding to Jones’ comment about the store-bought tiki torches used by the white supremacists at the Charlottesville rally earlier this month.
After another person commented about the differences between Atlanta (a city who has a large African American population) and the rest of Georgia, Spencer agreed.
“They will go missing in the Okefenokee [swamp],” he wrote. “Too many necks they are red around here. Don’t say I didn’t warn you about ’em.”
Jones didn’t back down from Spencer’s intimidation.
“Sounds like a threat of physical violence … is that what we are doing now?” she wrote. “Desperate times call for desperate measures huh? Afraid of what is going to happen in southern GA? I saw those white supremacists crying when sh*t really hit the fan.”
The Hill
✔
@thehill
Trump admin appoints ex-dean of college busted for fraud to run student aid fraud office: http://hill.cm/obJh394
https://twitter.com/aSciEnthusiast/status/902897386778918912
https://twitter.com/abc13houston/status/903066084412186624
This breaks my heart…
https://twitter.com/ABC/status/903041017368248320
https://twitter.com/TIME/status/903006985620262928
Marcus H. Johnson
✔
@marcushjohnson
If Kamala Harris says she is for Medicare for all and Bernie Bros still hate her, maybe its more about identity than policy 🤔🤔
https://twitter.com/TheBrooke/status/902901710309519361
Report: GOPers May Hold Children’s Health Insurance Hostage For Tax Cuts
AUGUST 30, 2017 12:43 PM
Congress returns next week to a nightmarishly short calendar during which they must pass a host of bills to keep the government running, including the reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) which provides health coverage to millions of children in low-income families and expires on Sept. 30.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Republicans may attempt to use the CHIP deadline as a vehicle to revive their effort to chip away at the Affordable Care Act, and could try to attach amendments to the bill to reauthorize its funding.
Congressional sources told the Wall Street Journal that Republicans are in particular looking at linking a repeal of Obamacare’s medical device tax to CHIP. Other lawmakers are considering amendments that would stabilize Obamacare’s marketplaces, fearing that a standalone bill to do so would either not pass Congress or would draw a presidential veto.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, The National Association of Medicaid Directors and several other groups have voiced concerns about attempts to play politics with the CHIP funding, warning that any attempt to attach a controversial “poison pill” provision to the must-pass bill would put it in jeopardy.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/chip-congress-republicans
https://twitter.com/TDOnline/status/903003206397169665
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/903004564458278912
https://twitter.com/TheDailyShow/status/902973802207862784
https://twitter.com/stevesilberman/status/903017307315699712
https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/902407480428384256
https://twitter.com/markfollman/status/903002488625704960
BWA HA HA This fake as MOFO. He’s literally CRAWLING OUT OF HIS SKIN, with all those “misplaced folks”
But he’s doing the Lord’s work, ya’ll.
https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/903060797135486981
Ladies, check your email
Me LIKIE!
https://twitter.com/Billbrowder/status/903045392299954176
Breaking News: Politico: Mueller’s Team Working With NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman
Yes😄😄😄
SHORT=CAN’T TOUCH THIS, #45
https://twitter.com/TheRoot/status/903033170257379328
How much more can we take?
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https://twitter.com/dailykos/status/902986517777436674
https://twitter.com/ABCNews4/status/902987010507460614
https://twitter.com/ABCNews4/status/902987005629431808
How Donald Trump and Elaine Chao Sold Off Flood-Control Policy to the Highest Bidders
In mid-August, the administration moved to gut a necessary initiative to guarantee the flood resilience of infrastructure.
BY JOHN NICHOLS | AUGUST 29, 2017
Even before Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, with devastating impact on the infrastructure of a flooded Houston and other communities, the Trump administration was thinking and acting on flood-control policies.
Unfortunately, the president’s team was thinking about what corporate interests wanted, and acting on their behalf — even as specialists on flooding issues pleaded with the administration to do otherwise. On Aug. 15, Trump and his team overturned an Obama-administration rule requiring that infrastructure projects, including roads and bridges, be designed to withstand the consequences of climate change — such as rising sea levels.
Experts in climate change, coastal management and environmental policy begged the administration to maintain the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard for “climate resilience.” The concern crossed traditional lines of ideology and partisanship, as free-market economic groups and Republican members of the House praised the standard.
But politically influential real-estate developers and builders lobbied for overturning Obama’s order. And they got their way, thanks in no small part to one of the industry’s most powerful allies in the administration, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.
Since Trump took office on Jan. 20, Chao and other presidential appointees have rushed to sell off critical decisions to the highest bidders in a crony-capitalist frenzy the likes of which Washington has never before seen.
…
Chao was with Trump when he announced the gutting of Obama’s order to insure the “climate resilience” of infrastructure projects. As the Cabinet secretary who will be overseeing much of Trump’s $1 billion infrastructure initiative, she was at the ready on Aug. 15 with complaints about long environmental reviews and regulations and a promise that “This new executive order will slash the time it takes to get vital new infrastructure projects approved and delivered.”
…
http://billmoyers.com/story/donald-trump-elaine-chao-sold-off-flood-control-policy-highest-bidders/
DESPITE HURRICANE HARVEY FLOODING, WHITE HOUSE DEFENDS TRUMP’S ROLLING BACK OBAMA FLOOD REGULATIONS
BY MAX KUTNER ON 8/28/17 AT 3:09 PM
Trump Rolled Back Obama’s Flood Rules Before Hurricane Harvey
…
Former President Barack Obama’s 2015 executive order that put in place flood risk regulations “applied broadly to the whole country, leaving little room or flexibility for designers to exercise professional judgement or incorporate the particular context of the project setting,” a White House spokesperson said Monday in a statement to Newsweek. The spokesperson added that the regulations “were developed without sufficient analysis as to the economic impacts associated with its ultimate implementation.”
The 2015 order established a federal flood risk management standard and said that for projects using federal funds, developers must take certain measures to assess the flood risk. “The purpose of that federal flood risk management standard was to ensure that where federal dollars were being spent on infrastructure…that the project sponsor understand and take a look at their flood risk portfolio,” says Brian Pallasch, the managing director for government relations and infrastructure initiatives at the American Society of Civil Engineers, a professional organization with more than 150,000 members. “We felt it was a step in the right direction.”
On August 15, Trump revoked the Obama directive “in order to ensure that the federal environmental review and permitting process for infrastructure projects is coordinated, predictable and transparent,” the Trump order said. It continued, “Inefficiencies in current infrastructure project decisions, including management of environmental reviews and permit decisions or authorizations, have delayed infrastructure investments, increased project costs and blocked the American people from enjoying improved infrastructure that would benefit our economy, society and environment.”
… the White House is standing by the August 15 order. The administration spokesperson said FEMA had not published a final rule on the Obama directive, and “therefore the regulatory changes had not been implemented and today’s executive order does not change current FEMA policies or programs.” By revoking the 2015 order, “the prior standard will remain in effect,” the spokesperson said. State and local jurisdictions can still implement higher standards.
…
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-revoked-obama-flood-protections-hurricane-harvey-texas-656050
Here’s what really happened.
In Trump’s so called administration, everything named Obama must go. Plus, everything must be deregulated, absolutely everything.
Now Houston has flooded, and the Trumpsters have been caught with their pants down. I strongly suspect that the majority of Americans didn’t know about this. It is only now getting some attention because of the Hurricane.
https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/902973199851282433
Why Houston is prone to flooding
By VERONICA STRACQUALURSI Aug 27, 2017, 8:09 PM ET
Richard Carson/Reuters
…
ABC News spoke with Texas A & M Professor Samuel Brody, who is an expert on flooding causes and consequences and is also the director of the Center for Texas Beaches and Shores.
According to Brody, Houston is prone to flooding for a number of reasons.
The city is situated on a low-lying coastal plain with little topographic relief and the soils beneath it are clay-based, thwarting drainage.
“But I think the real driver for flood loss and impact in Houston is the built environment,” Brody told ABC News in an interview Sunday. “This is a human-induced problem. Houston is a rapidly growing metropolitan area.”
Because of all the rapid development in the city, the natural drainage patterns of the region have been changed.
“Instead of water seeping into the soil or running into the bayous, we’re starting to see it run into people’s homes,” Brody said.
Houston uses bayous as its main drainage system, however the city has no major levee system in place.
But in trying to drain the water quickly from one place to another, you run the risk of harming another community downstream.
…
In January, the city announced projects — an estimate $130 million — to expedite flood relief in areas surrounding the Brays, Hunting and White bayous.
“These projects will greatly reduce the flood threat for residents along these bayous and remove hundreds of properties out of the 100 year flood plain,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner said in a press release.
…
http://abcnews.go.com/US/houston-prone-flooding/story?id=49452150
This article is kind of simplistic and general, but does touch on the truth which is that Houston’s flooding problem is essentially man made. An antiquated and inadequate system for flood control in a city that just kept sprawling and building and paving itself for decades without dedicating sufficient resources to flood control infrastructure. And they could ill afford this negligence given the topography of the region.
When I lived in Houston back in the late 1970s, a good hard rain would flood the bayous. It would have been a good time to get on this.
What is happening didn’t have to happen, certainly not to this extent. But, developers rule.
https://twitter.com/abc13houston/status/902978084068052992
https://twitter.com/W7VOA/status/902973521709674496
https://twitter.com/W7VOA/status/902977709067915266
Saw this on Maddow last night.
Their back up
and
the back up to the back up plan
HAVE FAILED
That’s why they’ve evacuated.
This was yesterday…
“While the world’s attention is on Texas, floods in Bangladesh, India and Nepal have killed 1,200 people and affected 16 million others.
Charities are calling it one of the region’s worst humanitarian crises in decades.”
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnewsbeat/videos/10156707805854968/?hc_ref=ARS2BlkaifCOR8i8mKYgSUtEaUDwfgpNHGD3xV8Nhc9_2MGm3BPxd8xMrsY0OXQuRJM
Nooooooo….
https://twitter.com/WLTX/status/902974703735783424
https://twitter.com/NatUrbanLeague/status/902971121473073152
Houston is the 4th largest city in America. And, it has been turned into one big lake.
I am stunned.
https://twitter.com/myfox8/status/902942698381946887
HEARTBREAKING…
https://twitter.com/Angelus1701/status/902945889689448450
(CNN)The van in which an elderly couple and their four grandchildren were riding when the vehicle was swept away Sunday by Tropical Storm Harvey’s floodwaters has been found, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez of Harris County, Texas, said Wednesday.
Two bodies were found in the van, and dive teams were making their way through murky water in a wooded area to inspect the white, cargo-type van for more remains, he said.
Developing story – more to come
Daughter wants to go see Carson today. I know she wants to see our little darling but I’m so scared. Is 290 to 610 opened? Is it safe?
She shouldn’t risk it, SG2
I hope she listens. I know she wants to hold Carson and love on him but I want them all to be safe. Just worried.
I feel so bad for her being separated from her newborn baby. But I’m sure the preemie nurses are holding him and taking very good care of him.
The water is going down in Houston, but slowly, according to the weather channel.
I agree, SG2.
She needs to wait until it is safe to travel. Carson needs her to wait until the flooding recedes.
I feel your daughter, Southern. When my youngest was born, I had to leave her only overnight after being in the hospital for a week for the C-section. She and I were bonding so well but her liver had to mature a little bit more. Well it really hurt my heart and I cried all night. I got her the next day. She was full term but it still hurt that one night. A mother’s love starts right away. God bless your daughter and I know that she will make up for lost time with little Carson. Just bless her.
They all were so excited to see Carson. Haley and Jay got a chance to go the hospital and see him. They can’t wait until he comes home. Daughter says she talks to him and he opens his eyes and watches her. Too much sweetness!
How Harvey exposes America’s dangerously dilapidated infrastructure
Ryan Cooper
August 29, 2017
…During the peak years of the New Deal, one single agency, the Public Works Administration, consumed half the concrete and one-third of the steel output of the entire country doing this stuff.
Among these relics are the two major flood control reservoirs protecting downtown Houston: Addicks Reservoir and Barker Reservoir, authorized by the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1938 and built by the Army Corps of Engineers. After subsequent upgrades and repairs, they are still functioning today — though they are in need of serious work. Back in 2009 they were deemed to be at “extremely high risk of catastrophic failure” due to their age and proximity to downtown, but the Corps has opted for a series of minor patches, not having had the money or initiative to do the necessary total overhaul. Due to the torrential rain from Harvey, both are right now nearly full and are having to release water to keep from overflowing.
…
The simple fact is that the United States could not possibly exist in its hyper-wealthy form — and probably not at all — without tremendous public investment in infrastructure. As societies grow wealthier, they necessarily require more and more sophisticated transportation, communication, and education. Highways, airports, rail networks, telephone and internet, schools, and so forth all require extensive government spending and regulation to function. Indeed, many absolutely vital systems — like the GPS satellite network — are to this day still owned and operated by the federal government.
…
Today, America is not only looking at the bill coming due for decades of procrastination, we face dramatically increased infrastructure requirements due to the threat of climate change. The entire power generation and transmission system must be rebuilt to slash carbon emissions; it and transportation and communication networks must be overhauled to increase resilience. And as we’re seeing in Houston, flood protection and drainage systems must be radically strengthened to handle a hugely increased risk of extreme storms.
Failing to rise to the occasion will only mean spending even more on disaster cleanup. While it may be expensive to build new flood control projects across the nation, it will be much cheaper than rebuilding drowned cities, one after the other.
http://theweek.com/articles/721140/how-harvey-exposes-americas-dangerously-dilapidated-infrastructure
Very informative article. We must take the warning and act now to repair and upgrade our country’s infrastructure.
This issue was prominent throughout the two Obama Administrations. PBO understood both the need and the opportunity to create jobs. It’s GOP obstruction the stood in the way. And from everything I’ve read, Trump’s so called “infrastructure plan” really isn’t a plan.
And, of course, the Bush wars created the staggering budget deficits that were used as an excuse.
All we’re going to learn here is that regardless of how much conservatives hate big government, it is big government that builds big infrastructure, and it has to be paid for with taxes. I have no idea how long it will take us to build consensus on this issue, but the cost of not building infrastructure dwarfs the cost of doing it.
Look at the below example. They needed 14 billion. Katrina damage is estimated close to 150 billion. And, of course, 1,800 deaths.
They Saw It Coming
By MARK FISCHETTISEPT. 2, 2005
…
The debate over New Orleans’s vulnerability to hurricanes has raged for a century. By the late 1990’s, scientists at Louisiana State University and the University of New Orleans had perfected computer models showing exactly how a sea surge would overwhelm the levee system, and had recommended a set of solutions. The Army Corps of Engineers, which built the levees, had proposed different projects.
Yet some scientists reflexively disregarded practical considerations pointed out by the Army engineers; more often, the engineers scoffed at scientific studies indicating that the basic facts of geology and hydrology meant that significant design changes were needed. Meanwhile, local politicians lobbied Congress for financing for myriad special interest groups, from oil companies to oyster farmers. Congress did not hear a unified voice, making it easier to turn a deaf ear.
Fed up with the splintered efforts, Len Bahr, then the head of the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Coastal Activities, somehow dragged all the parties to one table in 1998 and got them to agree on a coordinated solution: Coast 2050. Completing every recommended project over a decade or more would have cost an estimated $14 billion, so Louisiana turned to the federal government. While this may seem an astronomical sum, it isn’t in terms of large public works; in 2000 Congress began a $7 billion engineering program to refresh the dying Florida Everglades. But Congress had other priorities, Louisiana politicians had other priorities, and the magic moment of consensus was lost.
Thus, in true American fashion, we ignored an inevitable problem until disaster focused our attention. Fortunately, as we rebuild New Orleans, we can protect it — by engineering solutions that work with nature, not against it.
…
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/opinion/they-saw-it-coming.html?mcubz=0
Whew!
I learn so much from you, Liza.
TY, Yahtzee. :)
https://twitter.com/wbaltv11/status/902923223448334338
Heartbreaking… so very sad.
So much devastating news and so much suffering.
“9 Ways You Can Give Money, Food or Supplies to Help Hurricane Harvey Victims”
http://fortune.com/2017/08/29/hurricane-harvey-donate-help/
https://twitter.com/AynRandPaulRyan/status/902915601907073024
Lord Jesus! A continuing nightmare. Please help these people.
https://twitter.com/abc13houston/status/902911590135193600
I ache for all these victims of the hurricane flooding. It is heart wrenching!
Lord have mercy!
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/902915237564878848
Also:
Look at this! CRAZY!
https://twitter.com/bustedcoverage/status/902698539133931520
All of this has been so overwhelming :(
https://twitter.com/SafetyPinDaily/status/902857212053381120
Beaumont Texas…. An ocean on I-10 Freeway
https://twitter.com/cboehme69/status/902654114622033920
https://twitter.com/Dorofcalif/status/902910833356877825
Excerpts from the article linked in above tweet:
https://twitter.com/TPM/status/902909611430338560
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/902871539644866562
https://twitter.com/Dorofcalif/status/902909281372123136
https://www.facebook.com/CBSAustin/videos/10150899969209996/?hc_ref=ARR5nC_rQrv3eBY8H2FgOoNOCC6z2Xb5ubBnp7AUc30sJ_NYiISEOcUnREWzUM6hAH0
https://twitter.com/SarahBurris/status/902907497765208068
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/902902374280331265
https://twitter.com/_DamnSosa/status/902870325305757696
I thought the princess went home. Is she still around?
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https://twitter.com/Dushan41/status/902797615015780352
Trump steered clear of storm victims during Texas visit
08/30/17 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
The fact that Donald Trump went to Texas in the wake of Hurricane Harvey is not surprising. It’s been common for many years to see presidents travel to areas hard hit by disasters, meeting with officials on the ground, and offering support to victims.
But reading Politico’s report, it’s clear Donald Trump can’t stop being Donald Trump.
Perhaps the most memorable moment of the day came when Trump marveled at the size of his audience, saying in Corpus Christi, “What a crowd, what a turnout.” Apparently, in the president’s mind, what mattered during his brief visit to Texas was the number of locals who wanted to see him.
ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES 8/29/17
Chris Christie: Ted Cruz is lying
The New Jersey governor says his Republican colleague isn’t telling the truth about why he voted against Hurricane Sandy relief – but now wants money for Texas after Harvey.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 8/29/17
In odd move, Mueller subpoenas former Manafort lawyer
Rachel Maddow reports on the atypical treatment former Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort is receiving from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, including subpoenaing his former lawyer to give grand jury testimony.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 8/29/17
Trump attorney testimony unlikely in light of Moscow deal story
Rachel Maddow reports on the development of the Trump Tower Moscow story and how Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen’s role in it raises new questions about whether Cohen will testify to congressional investigating committees.
8 Top Trump cyber-sec advisers resign: ‘Your actions have threatened the security of the homeland.” https://t.co/oO7HTbmjWT via @Change
— bardgal (@bardgal) August 30, 2017
No one asked Cajun Navy, Houston mosques and @MattressMack to help. But pastor with 16,800-seat church had to be? https://t.co/RPIjpWHrPQ
— Mark Elliott (@markmobility) August 30, 2017
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 8/29/17
Houston hazards multiply as flooding worsens
Stephanie Gosk, NBC News correspondent, talks with Rachel Maddow about the emergency response to the crisis in Houston as flood waters push dams and levees to their limits and a chemical plant is being watched for potential explosion as safety systems lose power.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 8/29/17
As Houston levees overflow, so do flood evacuation shelters
Maya Rodriguez, NBC News correspondent, talks with Rachel Maddow about the plight of flood evacuees in the Houston area and the effort to find enough shelter space to accommodate everyone in need.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 8/30/17
How natural disasters became a presidential test
Michael Beschloss, NBC News presidential historian, talks with Rachel Maddow about the secondary story that accompanies any natural disaster in the United States: whether the president has responded and behaved appropriately.
Trump Likes to Dig Deep Holes for Himself
There is no doubt some ideological component that helps explain why the Trump administration has made so few appointments and seen so few confirmations of people to fill out their government. But the fuller story is one of lack of preparedness, a refusal by Trump to consider nominees who have been critical of him, a lack of desire by an increasing number of people to seek employment in his administration, and a lack of qualifications or actual disqualifications among those why were vocal supporters of Trump’s candidacy. The Democrats have engaged in some slow-walking, too, mainly in a reciprocal denial of unanimous consent in the Senate that would speed along the nominees who have been named. On the whole, though, Democratic obstruction explains almost none of the phenomenon.
Republicans Will Let America Burn While Holding Out for Tax Cuts
The core principle of the GOP is to make the rich richer, and that’s more important to its congressional leaders than any U.S. institution
Their priority will not change no matter what Trump does and no matter how many vastly more pressing problems confront the nation. The core principle of the GOP is to make the rich richer, and that is more important to people like Ryan than any of our institutions. As reality dawns on the naively hopeful GOP members who believed they could “manage” Trump, their willingness to keep the nuclear codes in the hands of a giant toddler says a lot about their values.
” She may go missing?”
The phuck?
What is this…the times of Emmit Till?
T
He just threatened her life!!!😠😠😠
This MOFO’s ass needs to be arrested, for threatening LaDawn Jones.
This country ha gone completely APESHIT CRAZY.
Good morning. The mofo protected his tweets. Coward punk ass bish.
His threat is criminal and proves what these monuments mean to people like him.
Prayers for everyone in the path of Harvey. I have never seen anything like this.🙏🙏
Amen.
“Muskegon-made kayaks will aid in Harvey relief
KL Outdoor partners with Walmart to help with storm rescue and relief effort”
PepsiCo And The PepsiCo Foundation Commit More Than $1 Million To Support Disaster Relief Following Hurricane Harvey
Good Morning, Everyone 😐😐😐
Happy Hump Day, Rikyrah & 3 Chic Family & Friends.