As the sun finally showed up in Houston, Harvey made a second landfall on the Gulf Coast cutting across southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana. One official in Port Arthur Texas, 90 miles up the coast from Houston, estimated the city was about 80 percent under water, saying, “Right now, we’re at God’s mercy.” Via The Los Angeles Times.
At this writing, the death toll from Harvey is at 38 and certain to rise. With each death comes another haunting story, but perhaps none so haunting as that of 3-year-old Jordyn, who was pulled from floodwaters in Beaumont, Texas, clinging to her lifeless mother, Collete Sulcer, a 41-year-old nurse who had been trying to take Jordyn to safety. Via The New York Times.
The housing crisis from the Harvey floods is expected to be a many-year event. Texas leaders are saying the federal aid package needed for Harvey will far exceed that of Katrina and could go as high as $150 billion. Via The Washington Post.
And now the long, and uneven, recovery begins in Houston. No one knows how long it will take or where it will lead, only that the job is vast beyond imagining. Via The New Yorker.
Atmospheric scientist Michael Mann writes in The Guardian that you can’t say with confidence that climate change caused Hurricane Harvey — he says, in any case, that it’s the wrong question to ask — but that you can say, with a great deal of scientific evidence, that climate change did make the flooding much worse.
Reports say that Secretary of Defense James Mattis has put a halt to Trump’s military transgender ban. A Vox report says that no, he hasn’t. A closer look seems to suggest that Vox is right.
A federal judge in San Antonio has temporarily blocked the tough anti-sanctuary-city law passed in Texas that was to go in effect on Friday. The law would have not only outlawed sanctuary cities but also would penalize local officials who refused to cooperate with deportation officials. Via the Austin American-Statesman.
Joshua Green’s Devil’s Bargain tells the story of how Steve Bannon left Brietbart to play the central role in putting Donald Trump into the White House. Now that Bannon is out at the White House and back at Breitbart, the question is where the story goes next. Via The Weekly Standard.
Is it actually possible that the love-to-cut-taxes-for-the-rich Republicans won’t actually be able to get a tax bill done? Turns out it is quite possible and for many reasons, ranging from Hurricane Harvey to the ever-stormy White House. Via The New Republic.
ESPN college football analyst Ed Cunningham walks away from his job, saying the game of football is “not safe for the brain” and he can longer in good conscience serve as a cheerleader for the sport. Via The New York Times.
Texas National Guard members from the 386th Engineer Battalion work alongside first responders from Texas Task Force One and the Cypress Creek Fire Department to rescue local citizens from severe flooding in Cypress Creek, August 28, 2017. Soldiers, fire fighters, paramedics and neighbors ensured more than 1,000 people and hundreds of dogs and cats were safe, evacuating them to dry ground and local shelters. U.S. Army National Guard photo by Capt. Martha Nigrelle, via Flickr: Creative Commons
