The frightened and weary human beings hanging onto life in Houston are....

[luvMIdog]

human beings PERIOD. They are families. They are children, infants, elderly, women, men, all races, all creeds. They are human beings in terrible awful peril . I'm sorry , but I need to say it pisses me off when I see anyone writing political commentary about these frightened , horrified, tired , hungry, thirsty human beings that are hanging onto hope and struggling to hang on to their lives, families, pets. Damn it when you can only see people in political terms I think you have a fucking problem. That is all. I'm Texan, I have family there. I have family that barely made it out alive. Do some of you making those comments even think about how YOU would feel wet, scared, hungry , thirsty, terrified? Human beings are trying to hang onto their lives.

[Docreed2003]

1. Amen...

I said as much in another thread here earlier. Hope your family is safe!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. I agree. Politics can (and certainly will) come later.

[MuseRider]

3. Agreed.

I hope your family are safely out of the mess and that they go back to less damage than they imagine I don't care how they voted. We are either moral or we are not. I don't care what they said when you had trouble, to keep the moral high ground we have to have the moral high ground and I am not seeing as much as I wish was here.

[BigmanPigman]

4. Understandable, but also bare in mind this is a political web site after all

so some cross over should be expected.

Most DO have empathy for the victims in TX and feel horribly and would like to help, at least that is what I have been reading for the past 4 days.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

38. True

I think this is where the truth of the moment is.

More random thoughts: we are also ANGRY at the people who helped this rotten administration happen, who bring their ignorant self-righteousness into the public life.

I know I'm angry as hell about that...I need to talk and acknowledge that's a reaction to their rottenness. I don't think I can just push that anger aside and take the high road.

Sometimes (oftentimes) I need to get it out and also get support to raise my life condition.

[cally]

5. Agreed

I am infuriated on a daily basis how Trump only worries about his base and not the rest of us. I'm appalled when I see people that are liberal doing the same thing. Texans and Louisianas are suffering need help and compassion.

[Scarsdale]

23. Exactly.

Remember "There but for the grace of God, go I" Disasters can happen to anyone, anytime. We have to support each other as people, not as (D) or (R).

[amuse bouche]

39. "There but for the grace of God, go I"

Yep, Gotta love the God has grace for some and none for others, mindset.

[Stuart G]

6. k and r...

[orangecrush]

7. If someones life is in danger

I don't give a damn about their politics or anything else.

I try to help.

[madokie]

8. I'm with you

I'm scared for them.

[secondwind]

9. My TX family is lucky. They all flew to NYC for a wedding.

[PatrickforO]

10. My cousin and his wife are down there.

They have been lucky so far as their house has not yet flooded. Earlier today, he texted me and said they are still 'dry' but the water is still rising.

Truth is, most people don't care nearly so much as we do about politics.

I can remember when Katrina hit and my city housed a bunch of refugees in old air force barracks. We were supposed to talk to them about finding jobs in my city. But it didn't work out that way. Most of the people I spoke to during that week said stuff like:

I lost everything. I don't even have my hairbrush.

I don't have but two outfits.

All I've got are these tennis shoes.

So yeah, we've got to buckle down and help these people.

None of us is likely to forget what fucks Trump and the Republicans are.

[FLPanhandle]

11. I have some conservative Trump voting friends in Houston

Politics is meaningless right now.

[DK504]

14. Except when that POS Twitterlini makes it political.

[PDittie]

12. The dearth of

"Let Texas drown", "give it back to Mexico", "keep Austin, f--k the rest", etc. for the past few days has actually been welcome.

I've posted here for 15 years and I have regularly seen comments from people denigrating the entire state, as if everyone living here -- even those Texans posting on DU, FFS -- were Republicans. And I have only rarely seen those comments removed. It just seems to be the kind of blanket hate that gets tolerated.

Houston went Clinton 54-46. Corpus is part of South Texas, a high concentration of Latino Democrats. While there has been a vast amount of support form this community, the few bad apples can spoil the barrel (if you don't use full ignore efficiently, anyway).

It's the thing about this place I don't like the most. I despise this lingering bias more than I do the residual "fighting the last primary" shit.

[elmac]

13. Yes, natural & man made disasters can happen in any state

and in the end it takes a village as my president Hillary Clinton said AKA "big govment" as wingers might say to save lives and clean up the mess afterwords.

[NBachers]

15. You're right- at any point, my town of San Francisco could be reduced to rubble. I'd like to think

that there'd be a full-bore response when it happens.

I'd also like to think that we're better than the taunting gloaters on the other side if San Francisco was hit by a huge quake- or a North Korean bomb.

[Squinch]

31. There is a full bore response in Texas. And no one is saying anything against any of

those in harm's way. What are we talking about here?

[NBachers]

47. Hey Squinch, all I'm saying is, if my town gets hit, I hope we have the same cooperative effort here

Are you accusing me of saying something disagreeable? If so, not appropriate.

[Squinch]

48. I'm not accusing you of anything. We have an OP that is very angrily talking about

"some of you making comments," and goes on to say, "damn it when you can only see people in political terms I think you have a fucking problem."

Then you agree and say that you'd "like to think we're better than taunting gloaters on the other side."

I have seen no taunting, and I have seen no comments that could be interpreted as only seeing people in political terms with respect to the Harvey response.

So again I ask, what are we talking about here?

[DK504]

16. So many of these guys were told to shelter in place.

Unbelievable.

[Honeycombe8]

20. The Sheriff agreed. They were told to shelter "in a safe place." Evacuations are deadly.

In one of the hurricanes, when there was an evacuation, most of the people who died, died related to the evacuation.

There are millions of people in Houston. It's a deadly proposition to move that number of people out of an area in a short amount of time, esp w/o causing danger for everyone.

People were asked to shelter in a safe place, whether it's their homes or another place. Houston opened shelters. People were also free to evacuate, if they wanted, of course. Some did.

Don't pay attention to Trump's criticism about not ordering an evacuation. He doesn't know what he's talking about. The local officials know what to do. Houston is pretty experienced at dealing with hurricanes and flooding. Although this flooding is catastrophic and worse than anything the city has seen in almost 50 years.

[LisaL]

25. Oh for crying out loud. If they ordered evacuations, millions of people would be stuck

on the roads right now in their cars.

[Demsrule86]

32. And let's not forget the asshole governor wanted checkpoints for 'illegals'.

This would have slowed down any evacuation which is always dicey when dealing with a large city.

[Honeycombe8]

37. I did not know that! Horrible. nt

[Cryptoad]

17. If the FAiled GOP Leadership in TX

and position of danger it has placed so many of the victims of Harvey, doesn't piss u off,,,,check ur pulse,,,,,, us may already be dead

[Honeycombe8]

21. Who placed the citizens in danger? It was the local officials who made the decisions.

And those decisions were right.

Evacuations are extremely dangerous and deadly. The last hurricane they had an evacuation for, 120 people died. Over 100 of them died in evacuation-related activity.

In Harvey so far, two have died.

Houston is experienced at dealing with hurricanes and flooding. They know what they're doing. The local officials told people to shelter "in a safe place." Houston set up shelters, or people could stay in their homes, OR they could evacuate.

This flooding is worse than any in 47 years. It's going to be bad, no matter what the residents do or don't do.

The people along the coast, who got the brunt of the hurricane, and would get the surge, were told to evacuate. But Houston's flooding is from the rain, not a storm surge. That makes a difference in the plans to handle it.

[LeftInTX]

18. My son and his wife came to San Antonio from Houston to attend a baby shower

My nephew just happened to be in San Antonio from Beaumont
My sister is in Houston in a second story apartment. She doesn't have power right now.
My other nephew is also in Houston in an apartment.

On Wednesday night, he was actually thinking of canceling his trip to San Antonio.
I said, "You get over here now!"
I watch the weather alot, (mainly because San Antonio is constantly on the receiving end of constant droughts) and I knew Houston was going to flood.
He came on Friday morning.

[Honeycombe8]

19. I guess I didn't see those posts. Wonder what they said. nt

[Squinch]

29. Me either. I saw one wondering if this would make Texas bluer, but nothing that

warrants walls o' angry words.

[radius777]

22. Exactly, and Houston is blue as most metro areas are

across the country.

And even in a 'deep red state' about 40% still vote D, which is still just about a flip of the coin.

[MFM008]

27. I try to

Practice what I was taught as a kid.
All would be welcome in my house .

[Squinch]

28. Yeah, but, um... no one is really doing that here.

[cwydro]

35. I haven't seen those comments either.

[Demsrule86]

30. I have no idea what you are talking about . "what comments?"

I completely support the people of Texas...and keep in mind Houston is a Democratic city anyway.

[RainCaster]

33. If it makes you feel better...

I could say derogatory things about them. But I would rather not, they have been dumped on enough already.

[yuiyoshida]

34. Trump has no compassion for anyone

[burnbaby]

43. and..... what

does this have to do with Texans? I don't care about trump right now and I care less about what his wife is wearing for shoes.

[yuiyoshida]

44. If you won't say

FUCK TRUMP, Than I will.

[dlk]

36. Unfortunately, For Those With No Conscience, It Doesn't Matter

[JPPaverage]

40. Yep. In the end we're all the same race

Last edited Tue Aug 29, 2017, 10:14 PM - Edit history (1)

Human race.

[B2G]

41. I can't believe this even needs to be said.

But it obviously does. Thank you.

[burnbaby]

42. Thank you

a voice of reason. I suspect you don't care what kind of shoes one is wearing as long as they can help.

I am so sorry that you are going through this, but from what I see Texans are strong and united. Color, religion voter registration just don't matter. Everyone who can seems to be helping. God Bless you all and may you all get the help you need.

The other 49 state can learn a lot from Texas.

[PBass]

45. If you have trouble sympathizing with Texans, remember there are thousands of children affected (NT)

[Skidmore]

46. We survived the great floods of 1993 and 2008 in this area.

These disasters are exhausting and disorienting for those in the midst of them. Right now we are waiting for check ins from my son and daughter-in-law in Houston and my niece, whose family was evacuated from Bay City.