Storms over the horizon

We’re in August so there are a couple of storms brewing over the horizon. Last week Debbie stormed over Florida out of the Atlantic and then stalled somewhere around Georgia/South Carolina/North Carolina, dumping buckets of rain and then traversed up along the East coast, bringing in floods. So, a hurricane formed out in the Atlantic can still bring devastating damage up along the eastern coast and as well as inland states. It looks like no one can escape.

This week is Ernesto’s turn but thankfully, it does not look like it will hit land. The only impact I’m aware of is the rip tides which can still bring death – but avoidable death. Just don’t go in the ocean and you will be okay.

I should have pulled out my hurricane files to take a look at history and compare how 2024 may be trending but I’ve been busy otherwise. I do want to prep those files so maybe I will do that tonight, after doing this post.

From here on out, it will just be watching the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Gulf to make sure nothing comes our way. I used to start worrying around the end of August, beginning of September, but Beryl surprised everybody with an early season Cat 1 hurricane, so now I can’t rest at ease anymore.

Summer used to be fun; not anymore with this climate change.

Speaking of climate change, I think Texas will be under this heat dome this week and next week, meaning heat index will be over 100 degrees.

Other storms brewing are more of a political nature.

So, last month or so, was like an earthquake, beginning with that debate between Joe Biden and Trump, When Joe Biden first walked out to his lectern, I was dismayed at how frail he looked. The initial poor impression was compounded with devastatingly poor performance: he couldn’t finish his sentences, he sometimes trailed off, and he had this “stupid” senile look on his face. I’m sorry to say it so brutally like that but that is how his facial features came across.

Trump was no better: he veered off topic, promoted lie after lie, and just didn’t seem pulled together.

I will say Biden did appear to improve as the debate continued but those first impressions were devastating. (How many times will I say devastating? That seems to be the word du jour to describe this event.)

Then came the attempted assassination on Trump by a Trump supporter.

That was shocking: the fact that it even happened; the fact that the secret service failed in their security procedures; and the fact that it was a far-right Republican that made the attempt.

That doesn’t make sense. The only way I could explain it is to think that the young boy was mad at Trump for disavowing Project 2025 or something he thought Trump had promised. I am trying to remember but there was a video that broached the possibility that the far-right might be mad at Trump for attempting to distance himself from Project 2025. This video showed a videoclip of Alex Jones and some other guy talking about assassinating Trump because they were mad at Trump. I’m not sure – everything is now a distant memory, but that story plot was at least a logical explanation for why a far-right person would attempt to kill the former president. The kid might have been listening to Alex Jones.

I will say that image of Trump standing up with his bloodied face and pumping his fist, mouthing “fight, fight, fight”, will be THE iconic image of him for the ages. That picture is going to be in the history books.

As if that wasn’t enough of an earthquake, Joe Biden’s post declaring he was dropping out of the race kind of tore through my heart, knowing how much he wanted to do the second term. On one hand, I thought, yeah, he needed to drop out because I just couldn’t see him lasting four more years (if he got re-elected, which was NOT a sure thing, actually it was very dubious) with his feeble old man walk, his barely audible voice and his inability to finish his sentences. On the other hand, I was scared of who would be proffered as the new nominee or of the potential for a devastating internecine warfare in the party, which the country did not need.

And finally, the surprising rise of the Harris/Walz nomination, with the exuberant joy spreading throughout the party. It was unbelievable how the atmosphere changed from despairing to joyous.

We got three more months of this. This is going to be a knuckle biter with a strong possibility of violence thrown in, if the news about the resurgence of the Patriot Boys is true, (I think I read that or something similar) and of course, with the nerve-racking court battles.

I’m not so sure I can trust the courts anymore. This doesn’t feel like it will end well.