i haven’t seen any noise about this on tumblr yet, but a fire has completely wiped out a small town in california.
they’re calling it the camp fire. over 20,000 residents have been evacuated so far, the last area estimates i heard were over an hour ago at 18,000 acres and its still zero percent contained.
this is the smoke from about 18 miles away from the fire three hours ago. if you know anyone near chico, paradise, oroville or durham california you might want to check they’re okay
UPDATE: 4PM FRI NOV. 9, 2018
the fire has completely walked over paradise, magalia, and much of the rest of butte county. it’s under 10% containment and moving towards chico, which was been mostly evacuated as well. it’s been documented as one of the top 20 deadliest fires seen in california. i know many of the people personally whose lives have been destroyed by this fire. my aunt and uncle’s home, of whom we’re very close to, was demolished last night, same goes for family friends and others who lived in paradise– which is completely gone. there are 5 confirmed deaths, several dozen missing people.
EVACUATION SITES STILL OPEN AS OF 1 HOUR AGO:
Butte County Fairgrounds (199 E Hazel St, Gridley, CA 95948)
Yuba-Sutter Fairground (442 Franklin Ave, Yuba City, CA 95991)
Glenn County Fairgrounds (221 E Yolo St, Orland, CA 95963)
Chester Memorial Hall (22 Gay Street, Chester)
HOW TO HELP/DONATE:
“Currently the best way to contribute is to make a monetary donation via the North Valley Community Foundation website.” -abc7news.com
“Supplies: Hope Center in Oroville (1950 Kitrick Ave Ste. A) is taking donations. Hours: Friday and Saturday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Needs: warm clothes, shoes, socks, coats (primarily for elderly residents).” -abc7news.com
the majority of those affected by the fire in paradise were elderly people. and having known paradise and magalia myself for years, it’s not a wealthy part of california. these people will need help, and lots of it.
if you have any questions, you can message me personally or seek information online or from the above references personally.
if you cannot help yourself, please spread the word and reblog. so many wonderful people are going through a terrible thing and need your help.
the NYT 2018 midterms morning-after narrative, with all the chin-stroking about mixed results and the bland end of the Dems driving the successes, seems really wrong to me and frankly kind of enraging. obviously there were disappointments but, net-net, this is not a morning for wailing and gnashing of teeth. I compulsively wasted hours and hours of my life following this shit last night, so I’m just going to lay out some of the story points supporting a more robust and optimistic narrative real quick
the objective was always to take the House; the Senate was always an almost hopeless moonshot
we did take the House, decisively
the things that follow from that are now going to be realized. it means not only more robust Trump oversight, the tax return subpoenas and protection for the Mueller investigation and so on, but also much needed brakes on the runaway GOP legislative agenda. the Republicans are not going to get to try to repeal ACA again, or kill Social Security, or defund Planned Parenthood, or have their way with the 2020 census or the budget. those things are all huge
the >9% popular-vote D advantage is comparable to or bigger than past midterm “wave” elections, including 1994’s Tea Party wave. that’s literally how we fucking took the House despite 1. the disastrous 2010 census gerrymandering and resulting structural 5- to 7-point GOP advantage and 2. the more recent horrifying surge of strongman fascism. excuse me but we 110% fucking deserve wave status
got a bunch of governorship wins that really fucking matter! Scott Walker, don’t let the door hit you on your way out of Wisconsin! welcome home, Michigan! fuck you and the horse you rode in on, Kris Kobach!
what’s not the matter with Kansas, multiple excellent results there with both Laura Kelly and Sharice Davids winning upsets. possibly they’ve finally put it together that austerity is terrible and are positioning themselves to start fixing the damage. good going, Kansas
this whole weird line that it was moderate Dems that drove all the key successes and dynamic progressives only ever have any chance in the very bluest coastalest elitest cityest races is bullshit. I can’t believe the NYT can say that with a straight face. Sharice Davids is NOT your bland straight white guy DINO, and Kansas is, um, not the Bronx? Pennsylvania is literally going to have a DSA caucus? Beto O’Rourke lost what was, come on, a moonshot race by a high-suspense hair, he clearly has cemented his rising-star status and generated real excitement and momentum
meanwhile DINO “moderate” poster children Heitkamp and Donnelly lost us two (2) Senate seats. wtf with this narrative?
several of the highest profile GOP wins were in states with especially flagrant and egregious voter suppression. we’re all looking at you, Georgia, North Dakota, TEXAS whose Senate race was still close as hell. this is one of the things a Democratic House is well positioned to make a goddamn fuss about.
also Michigan and uh I think another state passed anti-gerrymandering ballot initiatives and, may I goddamn repeat, official face of ‘voter suppression is actually good’ Kris Kobach is out on his ass. plus, granted Florida is a trainwreck by a hundred thousand or so people again, they’ve also just reenfranchised 1.4 million ex-felons, so that may be goddamn changing in future
Virginia is a blue state now btw
New York internal state shit here but the state senate has finally thrown off its shackles so maybe we can actually get some good goddamn legislation passed, seriously if you don’t live here you have no idea the bullshit that’s been going on in Albany thanks to so-called moderates
is everything in the garden lovely? hell to the fuck no, shit sucks in abundance out there, but we knew that! that’s not the surprising bit!
give hardworking blues the credit they deserve 2k18
On the progressive side, I would also note that Stacey Abrams (who hasn’t conceded yet but I’m not holding my breath on this) came the closest to flipping the Georgia’s governor’s mansion since the 90s when middle of the road democrats since 2002 have lost from between 5 to 20 percent. Good lefty Abrams got within 2 percent (and outperformed Clinton in total number of votes received in Georgia…IN A MIDTERM YEAR). The Southeast did tend to go less blue than might have been hoped, but the Midwest made up for that and the vote totals show the progressives can get out to vote.
This despite entireblue districts in GA getting allocated non-working voting machines and being no joke completely shafted for voting, BY THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE WHOSE LITERAL JOB WAS RUNNING GA STATE ELECTIONS. It’s not a disgrace, doing this well in the face of not only a legit mixed af Southeastern state constituency but also flagrant bald-faced cheating.
wait wait wait wait
How can running elections possibly be the job of somebody who has such an immediate and vested interest in the outcome?!
Just woke up from a hyper-realistic, terrifying dream in which the Orange Abomination actually HAD started a nuclear war – but with agreements to only bomb the coasts.
And his mindless followers even here in Florida cheered and hooted “Bomb the Coasts!” and “No More Coastal Elites!”
And I was separated from my mom and daughter, trying to contact them before the power and the cell service went out.
I HATE THIS.
Orange Abomination starting a nuclear war is my ongoing nightmare.
I was born four years after the WWII ended. I heard anough accounts from my parents and relatives and read enough books about the pre-war Poland to know that everyone was hoping, against all evidence, that “Hitler will not start anything”, “we signed this pact, it will protect us”, or, even in Poland: “he’s a strong man, and that’s what Europe needs at this point”, ““he has good ideas”, etc., etc. Today I hear about “checks and balances”, “patriot men and women in congress”, after hearing in 2016 “he’s a joke” and “he’ll never get elected”.
“A member of No More Deaths faces a felony charge after he was arrested by Border Patrol agents, just hours after the Tucson humanitarian group released videos last week showing agents destroying water and food left for those crossing Arizona’s deserts.
Scott Daniel Warren, 35, faces up to five years in prison for harboring two people suspected of being in the country without authorization, after Warren gave them food and water.”
As a pretty crucial update to this, No Más Muertes (the organization in question above) are currently asking for donations to the legal defense fund for activists and organizers who have been arrested during the struggle for migrant justice along the US/Mexico border.
We need your support to fight these charges and resist the dangerous, divisive claim that sharing food and water with undocumented immigrants is a criminal offense.In addition to these felony charges, Scott and 8 other No More Deaths volunteers face federal misdemeanor charges, including “abandonment of property,” for humanitarian aid in Arizona’s West Desert. In 2017, the remains of 58 people who died crossing the border were found in this area – nearly half of all remains found in Arizona that year.”
Steel Phoenix Studios 