While Vrede is Away

[billy.pilgrim]

Hwy. 70 is open, ER closes at 0700 10/19. I'll sleep some, help with packing up, then drive home.

Be safe

[Vrede too]

Thanks.

Y'all have clearly heard about my driving.

[Vrede too]

Bye.

Hi.

[JTA]

Ayy

[billy.pilgrim]

ARGH

[Vrede too]

Sorry to disappoint y'all.

[rstrong]

Sorry to disappoint y'all.

Not disappointed; just expecting you a day later. I thought you had chosen being in a disaster area over being home to watch the final debate.

[Vrede too]

Watched part of it while cooking and eating, only because nothing else was on. Ick, one disaster to another. "Nasty woman" is trending, but not the way Trump wanted it to.

[O Really]

You didn't rescue any Trump voters down there, did you?

[Vrede too]

Hard to say.

Lenoir County is 56.47% White, 40.43% Black or African American.
Kinston is 67.7% Black, 27.8% White.
I saw more white patients than either ratio, might be a southside of the river thing.
Kinston's mayor is GOP, its US Rep is Dem and Lenoir County's other US Rep is GOP.

Our mobile ER was set up at Southwood Memorial Christian Church. The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) sound more liberal than the Baptists.

We'll have to see how Lenoir County votes to see whether I provided aid and comfort to the enemy.

[Vrede too]

Sounds like we rescued more Hillary voters, if they're able to vote.

Flood victims face major challenges as early voting begins

... Some of the most heavily damaged areas are largely Democratic with a high concentration of black voters, and there are concerns the disarray might depress turnout and sway the outcome of the White House race in this battleground state, where polls suggest a tight race between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump and where Barack Obama beat John McCain in 2008 by a mere 14,177 votes out of 4.3 million cast....

[Vrede too]

It's weird, I was fed fantastically, lived comfortably and was paid my regular wage, including travel time and significant overtime, along with mileage, and didn't work as hard as usual, all for taking care of people whose lives had at least been significantly disrupted and in some cases had lost everything. Given my reduced regular work hours, I probably made more than any week this year. There's no alternative to it, I can't legally do what I do for free, but I still feel guilty.

So, I'm going to tithe some of it back. I don't think much of the Red Cross, won't contribute to McCrory's state fund and neither Kinston nor Lenoir County have donation opportunities or links on their websites - a major lapse, I think. So, I read this:

WNC groups help rescue hundreds of animals after hurricane



I may send Brother Wolf Animal Rescue my tithe unless y'all have better ideas.

[O Really]

Brother Wolf is a good choice.

[billy.pilgrim]

Brother Wolf is a good choice.

Agreed

[Vrede too]

... I'm going to tithe some of it back. I don't think much of the Red Cross, won't contribute to McCrory's state fund and neither Kinston nor Lenoir County have donation opportunities or links on their websites - a major lapse, I think. So, I read this:

WNC groups help rescue hundreds of animals after hurricane



I may send Brother Wolf Animal Rescue my tithe unless y'all have better ideas.

Done.

[O Really]

Why we missed him while he was gone...
http://www.msn.com/en-us/video/animals/ ... ?ocid=iehp

[Vrede too]

I'm nowhere near as cute, graceful and melodious as that bunch.

[O Really]

Off tending flood victims, eh? Ha! Now we know where you've been... http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/us/go ... regon.html

[Vrede too]

I got banned for eating the yoga mats and peeing on the hipsters.

I just got asked that when I skipped a disaster med team meeting that was featuring acupuncture. My response: "I'm an activist hippie, not a woo-woo one." ...

[Vrede too]

We don't know how much we spend on disasters, and that needs to change

In the days after Hurricane Matthew made landfall on Oct. 8, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) distributed 6 million meals, 1.1 million gallons of water and 87,000 blankets, providing a critical lifeline to residents of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

But as with any disaster, meeting these immediate needs is only the beginning of many millions of dollars of federal assistance over months and years to state and local governments, tribes, businesses and individuals in the affected states.

Over the past two decades, FEMA has seen a 212 percent increase in its Public Assistance Grant Program, the largest source of federal disaster assistance to state and local governments, from an annual average of $1.8 billion from 1996 to 2005 to $5.5 billion per year from 2006 to 2015. But these dollar figures are just the tip of the iceberg and do not include what other federal agencies — including the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development — have spent on disaster response, recovery and mitigation.

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report in September put the average annual total of federal disaster spending in recent years at $27.7 billion, spread across 17 departments and agencies that play a role in response or recovery. This report provides a first-of-its-kind comprehensive look at federal disaster expenditures but tells only part of the story. The amount of state and local government investment in disaster relief and mitigation, a key part of the funding picture, remains unknown.

In fact, a complete tally of total public disaster-related spending in the United States does not exist....

Reining in the costs of future natural disasters effectively will require a hard look at how disaster-related money is being spent and whether there is appropriate investment in activities that could reduce the costs of future disasters. A 2005 study by the National Institute of Building Sciences reviewed 10 years of federal government spending on hazard mitigation for earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes and floods and found that every dollar spent in preparing for these types of disasters saved roughly $4 in recovery costs.

And yet, federal funding has not followed evidence that investments in disaster mitigation could reduce total spending over the long run. For example, in fiscal year 2016, Congress appropriated $7 billion to FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund primarily for response and recovery, but only $100 million for the Pre-Disaster Mitigation Fund to limit the severity of damages from a future natural disaster....