Trump Rescinded Obama’s Flood-Risk Rule Weeks Before Hurricane Harvey Hit

Trump Rescinded Obama’s Flood-Risk Rule Weeks Before Hurricane Harvey Hit

"Donald Trump signed away Obama-era flood standards just weeks before Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, in a bid to get infrastructure projects approved more quickly."

"The rule, signed by former President Barack Obama in 2015, had not yet come into effect but aimed to make infrastructure more resilient to the effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels and flooding."

"Those who backed Obama's rule believed they would make people safer by putting roads, bridges and other infrastructure on safer ground, NPR reported. But Trump rescinded the rule several weeks ago in an attempt to speed up the time it takes for infrastructure projects to be approved."

August 30, 2017 Morning

Good morning! What day is it? The final Hump Day of August, of course. Next Wednesday is Harvest Moon.ย Shine on Harvest Moon! Sunny and 57 degrees in Delmar. Calm wind. The dew point is 52 degrees. A beautiful day that reminds me of many early September days, including that ever so tragic day when I was a freshman in college on September 11, 2001. Sixteen years ago now.

Today will be mostly sunny, with a high of 75 degrees at 3pm. Three degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 54 at 10am. North wind 3 to 6 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies. The high last year was 82 degrees. The record high of 98 was set in 1953.

The sun will set at 7:32 pm with dusk around 8:00 pm, which is one minute and 42 seconds earlier than yesterday. At sunset, look for mostly clear conditions and 70 degrees. The dew point will be 53 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 12 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 46 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear, with a low of 56 degrees at 5am. One degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 54 at 10pm. Southwest wind 3 to 5 mph. In 2016, we had partly cloudy skies. It got down to 62 degrees. The record low of 37 occurred back in 1965.

Last night I went to the Albany County Young Democrats monthly happy hour at Hollywood Cafe.ย I haven’t been politically involved in years — I get enough of it at work — but it’s still fun to drink beer after work occasionally. I also volunteered to do some walking and phone banking on one of the local campaigns, for a candidate I helped out a fair bit with the same activities a decade ago.

Today hopefully the landlord will be coming over to fix the dripping bathroom faucet. Whose drop has all but stopped this morning. I hate to waste water even if I’m not directly paying for it. Plus I didn’t want to get blamed for not reporting it. It’s just a pain because I have to keep my bathroom neat while rushing to get ready for work, not knowing when my landlord will arrive.

No decisions have been made on the weekend.ย I’m increasingly worried about how Hurricane Harvey could bring rain north to ruin our Labor Day Weekend.ย I guess that’s fine, I’ve done quite a bit of camping this past month, and could use a quiet weekend off. Too bad though that the library is closed this weekend. I guess I could go out to Green Mountain National Forest or do something during a few days of the weekend. Although who knows, Weather Undeground doesn’t show us getting much rain except on Sunday — especially up north at Moose River Plains.

I went to the store to buy groceries — actually Walmart — and got food and supplies for the week.ย Not a big shop, because I plan to get sweet corn and more vegetables today at the farmers market. I wanted to pick up another 12-volt set of USB port to wire up in the truck cap — on the shelf — because I don’t like using the built-in USB port in the switch box due to the blue light that makes it difficult to sleep. I guess if I go camping this Labor Day Weekend, and out for supplies on Thursday, I can buy those USB ports and wire them before I leave. It seems silly that I need more places to charge things, but I would like to have more USB ports, especially on the shelf.

I am also going to add a relay to automatically switch on the CB radio, dash cam, and cellphone charger when I start the truck.ย I too often leave the dash cam on when I run into the store, which I guess is good if the vehicle is hit, but it also means I end up with many hours of tape on nothing. Even worse is probably when I’m driving down the road, and I forget to power things back up. I already have a wire I can use to excite the relay, I just got to buy the relay and socket. A standard 20 or 30 amp relay should work perfectly. This is probably yet another wiring project for September.

On this day in 1967, Thurgood Marshall is confirmed as the first African American Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. And in 1974, a powerful bomb explodes at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries headquarters in Marunouchi, Tokyo, Japan. Eight are killed, 378 are injured. Eight left-wing activists are arrested on May 19, 1975 by Japanese authorities.

As previously noted, next Wednesday is Harvest Moon when the sun will be setting at 7:19 pm with dusk at 7:48 pm. On that day in 2016, we had mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 85 and 61 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 76 degrees. We hit a record high of 91 back in 1983.

Fascism, American Style

Fascism, American Style

"Letโ€™s call things by their proper names here. Arpaio is, of course, a white supremacist. But heโ€™s more than that. "Thereโ€™s a word for political regimes that round up members of minority groups and send them to concentration camps, while rejecting the rule of law: What Arpaio brought to Maricopa, and what the president of the United States has just endorsed, was fascism, American style. "

"So how did we get to this point?"

"Trumpโ€™s motives are easy to understand. For one thing, Arpaio, with his racism and authoritarianism, really is his kind of guy. For another, the pardon is a signal to those who might be tempted to make deals with the special investigator as the Russia probe closes in on the White House: Donโ€™t worry, Iโ€™ll protect you."

Duck Pond Logging

The Duck Pond Campsite at Burnt Rossman Hills State Forest was closed this summer due to the extensive amount of logging going on in this area.