Mysterious ‘Loch Ness Monster’ Looking Creature Washed Up On A Georgia Beach

A mysterious and strange looking creature has washed up on a Georgia beach. The animal looks incredibly similar to the infamous and fabled “Loch Ness Monster.”

According to Science Alert, Georgia resident Jeff Warren stumbled across the remains of the creature while boating with his son at Wolf Island National Wildlife Refuge in Golden Isles, Georgia. Warren said he originally assumed the creature was a dead seal. But upon closer inspection, he realized it was something much more strange.

Many on social media have stated that they too believe the creature looks like “Nessie,” the nickname given to the Loch Ness Monster. The first recorded sighting of the Loch Ness Monster was in the year 565 AD when it was said to have snatched up and eaten a local farmer, before being forced back into the waters by St. Columba. Over the years, rumors spread about the “strange events” at Loch Ness. Some believe that ancient Scottish myths about water creatures, like Kelpies and the Each Uisge (meaning “water horse”), contributed to the notion of a creature living in the depths of Loch Ness.

It does look like a baby Nessie. The seas have a lot of mysteries.

— BetaNipson (@BetaNipson) March 19, 2018

There is already a long-standing local legend about the existence of “Altie” or “Altahamaha-ha” which is basically Georgia’s own version of the Loch Ness Monster.

But this isn’t the first (or second) time that a weird “mystery” creature has washed up on a random beach, and so far scientists say they have always gone on to identify the creature or come up with a perfectly reasonable explanation. Recently, a fanged “monster” appeared on a beach after Hurricane Harvey. But that thing turned out to be an eel.

Scientists also say decomposing animals can often bear strange features, making them look like something that’s never been seen before.

Curiosity is winning right now, however, as many want to know what it is that could possibly look like Nessie.

FEMA Is Failing America After These Massive Hurricanes — and I Know Why

(ANTIMEDIA Op-ed) Recently, I’ve been reading and hearing a lot about groups like the Cajun Navy, which rescued hundreds of people during Hurricane Harvey. The organization formed spontaneously in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and is stimulating a new and much-needed conversation. When you compare the voluntary provision of important public services by the “Cajun Navies” of the world to those provided by government agencies like FEMA, it’s hard to deny how much better the voluntary organizations perform.

Based on many of the discussions I’ve been having about recent events, it is obvious that many people realize something important is almost “hiding in plain sight.” ‘We the People’ already provide each other with most of the services we rely on, but this fact often goes unnoticed. Whether it’s the production and supply of food, clothes, electrical power, houses, systems and modes of transportation, medical treatments, or most modern forms of communication — all public services on which we depend — We the People are responsible for most of them.

And yet almost half of the country’s resources go to the government.

Common sense says we should send more resources to those who can do the best work with them. Yet when it comes to the public services, that common sense seems lacking.

Whenever we simply increase the amount we are sending to a government program or agency to deliver a public service, we are skipping the critical step of identifying the best way of doing something before we do it – or doing more of it.

In almost every other area of life, when we want to improve outcomes, we look at methods of delivery. If we did this for the services the public relies on, we would all do better.

The provision of public services by the government has some unique and fundamental flaws. For example, the guaranteed supply of potentially unlimited revenue (through taxation) reduces the accountability of those who spend it, creating an imbalance between inputs and outcomes. This contributes to ever-increasing waste and inefficiency over time. FEMA had a $13.9 billion budget in 2016 yet was expected to run out of money even before superstorm Irma hit Florida as this year’s hurricane season was just beginning. And that’s after $6.7 billion was allocated to disaster relief in the 2017 budget.  In contrast, volunteer organizations have been performing many of the same functions of FEMA even more effectively without taking any tax dollars from the public to do so. Amazingly, the Cajun Navy does its life-saving work without taxpayer funds.

The fact that the Cajun Navy arrived on the scene quicker than FEMA and saved more lives on a shoestring budget begs a profoundly important question: How much more good could be done by the “Cajun Navies” of the world if they had even a small fraction of the resources the “FEMAs” have?

The Cajun Navy is just another example of Americans coming together and putting their differences aside to help each other in times of need. It’s truly a beautiful thing to witness. As Charlie Chaplin famously said in the film The Great Dictator, “We all want to help one another; human beings are like that.”

The good news is that we are already spending more than enough to do the good we would like to see done – if only a small fraction of those resources were redirected to those who do better with them so they could give those most in need the best possible assistance.

A model for this has already been implemented with excellent results.

In Arizona, residents are able to redirect some of their tax dollars to organizations that do better in supporting the causes they believe in. Arizona’s “charitable tax credit” allows each taxpayer to redirect up to $400 (recently doubled from $200) of their individual state income tax liability to a nonprofit in their local area that serves the poor more effectively than does the government. Taxpayers receive a dollar-for-dollar credit for donations, so if they have a tax bill of $1,000 from the state of Arizona but have sent $400 to their favorite local charities, they only owe the state $600.

Whether we are responding to catastrophic events such as hurricanes or the basic, everyday needs of our communities, doesn’t it make the most sense to ensure those who do the most good have the resources they need to do even more good? If we do, the sky will be the limit for the “Cajun Navies” out there in both number and effectiveness.  Given the uncertain environment we live in, why would we want to do anything less than put ourselves in the best possible position to meet tomorrow’s needs or to deal with the next emergency — whatever it may be?

There are countless examples of harm done by the wasting of resources by those who have no real incentive to deploy them carefully. How about New York City spending $2 million on a bathroom, the GSA spending more than $800,000 at a conference in Vegas, and the Pentagon fudging its own accounts by $6.5 trillion? The list goes on and on.

Recognizing all of this, the We Do Better project is about finding organizations that do better in each community, ensuring that those who need help know where and how to get it, and empowering communities to send their resources where they will do the most good.

In Arizona, where the charitable credit was implemented, local charities in several communities formed tax credit coalitions to publicize the credit, making it easier for donors to give and for beneficiaries to find them. This increased cooperation among charities has had the wonderful side effect of making them more effective in helping people who were facing multiple challenges at once (such as food insecurity, homelessness, and addiction), hugely improving human outcomes and the strength of the community’s social safety net.

Doing the most good means being morally committed to better human outcomes rather than ideologically committed to a particular method of achieving them.  Let us start measuring our compassion not by our good intentions, the efforts we make, or even the money we spend – but by the good we do for each other.

As Margaret Mead famously said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

We already do better. We can do more of that.

Op-ed / Creative Commons / Anti-Media / Report a typo

This article was submitted by Jason Casella of We Do Better, a voluntary aid organization.

 

Man Died Of Flesh Eating Bacteria After Helping With Hurricane Harvey Relief

Two months after making landfall in Texas, Hurricane Harvey has claimed another victim.  This time, a man who helped repair flooded homes has died after contracting a flesh-eating bacteria.

The man, who has been identified as Josue Zurita, according to CNN affiliate KHOU, was helping repair several homes damaged by intense flooding from Harvey.  Zurita went to the hospital on October 10 with a seriously infected wound on his upper left arm and was diagnosed with a rare flesh-eating bacterial infection known as necrotizing fasciitis, according to the Galveston County Health District. The 31-year-old man died last week after being diagnosed with the bacteria, Galveston County Health District announced Monday.

Zurita’s death follows closely on the heels of the death of Nancy Reed, a 77-year-old Houston-area woman who died in September after contracting the necrotizing fasciitis bacteria in Harvey floodwaters. J.R. Atkins, a former first responder, also contracted a flesh-eating bacterial infection but survived, according to KHOU. He had been kayaking through floodwaters to check on neighbors affected by the hurricane, according to a Facebook post in September.

In an obituary on the Galveston-based Carnes Brothers Funeral Home’s website, Zurita was called a “loving father and hard-working carpenter” who moved to the United States from Mexico to help his family and “remained to help with the rebuilding after hurricane Harvey.”

Necrotizing fasciitis is extremely rare, usually only popping up in about 1,100 cases per year in the United States. But given the conditions of areas that Hurricane Harvey destroyed, it’s much more likely to contract the bacteria while in the flood waters. “We’re surprised we saw three of them in the region, but given the exposure to all the construction and potential injuries that people would have … it shouldn’t be surprising. It’s well within what we would expect given those numbers,” said Dr. Philip Keiser, the Galveston County local health authority.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, several different types of bacteria can cause necrotizing fasciitis.  An infection like this can spread quickly and kills off the body’s soft tissue, especially if it infects a wound that is not properly cared for, Keiser said. The infection also can become lethal within a very short amount of time. “What happens is, you get some kind of break in the skin, and in that area — between the skin and the muscle — it’s a fairly open space where the bacteria can grow,” Keiser said. “I have seen these things spread over hours. Even in one case, as I was examining a patient, I could see the red spread in the minutes I was examining him, and that’s the real danger to it,” Keiser said. “As it spreads, it’s going up the space between the muscle and skin, and as it does that, it kills all the nerves and the blood vessels can clot.”

Keiser says that this is preventable, however.  People with wounds should make sure that they keep them covered with clean and dry bandages, especially while working in the flood waters. Never delay treating even a minor wound and seek proper medical attention if there is any redness or swelling around the area.

Dickenson, TX Residents Told No Hurricane Harvey Relief Funds if Support Boycotting Israel

[image: Reuters]

Israel’s sinister influence over US policy extends to tiny Dickenson, TX, population around 19,000, ravaged by Hurricane Harvey, residents needing help.

Getting any requires certifying in writing the following on signed applications:

“(T)he Applicant verifies that the Applicant: (1) does not boycott Israel; and (2) will not boycott Israel during the term of this Agreement.”

Recently passed Texas law requires state contractors to certify no opposition to Israel. At a signing ceremony, Governor Greg Abbott called Texas Israel’s “No. 1 trading partner in the United States,” adding:

“Texas is proud to reaffirm its support for the people of Israel and we will continue to build on our historic partnership…Anti-Israel policies are anti-Texas policies, and we will not tolerate such actions against an important ally.”

Earlier Supreme Court decisions affirmed the right of free expression, including political speech and protests, protected by the First Amendment.

Federal, state and local governments are prohibited from requiring individuals to certify political beliefs for employment, contracts or other benefits.

ACLU Texas legal director Andre Segura explained “(t)he First Amendment protects Americans’ right to boycott, and the government cannot condition hurricane relief or any other public benefit on a commitment to refrain from protected political expression.”

“Dickinson’s requirement is an egregious violation of the First Amendment, reminiscent of McCarthy-era loyalty oaths, requiring Americans to disavow membership in the Communist party and other forms of ‘subversive’ activity.”

On October 11, the ACLU filed suit in federal court, challenging a Kansas law on behalf of math teacher Esther Koontz – denied the right to train other teachers for supporting BDS, her constitutional right.

Last July, the ACLU wrote congressional members, opposing legislation criminalizing boycotts of companies doing business in illegal Israeli settlements.

The unconstitutional House and Senate Israel Anti-Boycott Act aims to silence criticism of Israel. The Center for Constitutional Rights earlier called criminalizing criticism of Israel “the Palestinian Exception” to fundamental First Amendment rights.

House and Senate versions of the Israel Anti-Boycott Act call for stiff fines and imprisonment for up to 20 years – the measure not yet passed, subject to revisions.

The ACLU said its letter to congressional members got Senate sponsors of the bill to consider changes.

If passed and signed into law by Trump, a judicial challenge could get it overturned – though anything supporting Israel won’t be easily changed, perhaps not even by the Supreme Court.

The post Dickenson, TX Residents Told No Hurricane Harvey Relief Funds if Support Boycotting Israel appeared first on The Sleuth Journal.

Texas City Demands Citizens Pledge Loyalty To A Foreign Country If They Want Hurricane Harvey Relief Money

In a shocking development, a Texas city is demanding that their citizens sign a loyalty pledge to Israel in order to receive Hurricane Harvey relief funds.

Despite obvious Constitutional issues, the city of Dickinson has included, on its list of promises that a citizen must make in order to get funds for relief from the devastating hurricane, that one must certify that they do not boycott Israel and will not begin to boycott Israel during the terms of the agreement.

As The Houston Press noted, “The small town of Dickinson is now making national news for what appears, before any context is provided, to be a totally random loyalty pledge to a foreign country that has absolutely nothing to do with Harvey recovery.”

The city is apparently attempting to use a state law, signed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott, that prohibits arms of the Texas government from “investing in or contracting with” any company that boycotts Israel. Contractors are made to sign a similar verification as the one included by the city of Dickinson. The governor even went as far as to claim that boycotting Israel was anti-Texas after he signed the bill into law.

While one can agree or disagree on the merits of the state law in general, it cannot be denied that this law targeted organizations, not citizens seeking aid after their homes and property were destroyed by a hurricane.

“The legal trouble, besides requiring citizens of the U.S. to pledge allegiance to a foreign country, doesn’t end there. The Texas law specifically states that organizations are held to the pro-Israel standard, but nowhere does it state that individual citizens are. Nevertheless, Dickinson is requiring its citizenry to sign a no-boycott pledge if they’re interested in U.S. government grant money.  In other words, if you don’t pledge allegiance to a foreign nation you don’t get government aid,” wrote Aaron Kesel for Activist Post.

The contract specifically reads:

“By executing this Agreement below, the Applicant verifies that the Applicant: (1) does not boycott Israel; and (2) will not boycott Israel during the term of this Agreement.”

For their part, the ACLU has stepped in, saying in a statement that, “The First Amendment protects Americans’ right to boycott, and the government cannot condition hurricane relief or any other public benefit on a commitment to refrain from protected political expression.”

“Dickinson’s requirement is an egregious violation of the First Amendment, reminiscent of McCarthy-era loyalty oaths requiring Americans to disavow membership in the Communist party and other forms of ‘subversive’ activity.”

Keep in mind that you do not have to be for or against the Israeli boycott movement as a whole to be disgusted by the loyalty pledge demanded by the city of Dickinson. No matter what country is specifically stated, a city government demanding something like this should never be tolerated.

Texas City Demands Hurricane Harvey Victims Support Israel to Get Relief

(ANTIMEDIA) Dickinson, TX — Government suppression of free speech can take many forms. It’s not always censorship in the media or storm troopers in the streets bashing in the heads of protesters. For proof of this, one need look no further than Dickinson, Texas.

The small coastal town southeast of Houston took some of the worst Hurricane Harvey had to offer, with almost 7,400 homes damaged — many of them beyond repair. In response, the city council decided to set up a relief fund. People can donate to the city, and then a committee distributes the money to residents on a case-by-case basis.

As it clearly states in published minutes of the October 10 meeting of the Dickinson city council — the meeting where the program was discussed — taxpayer funding is not an issue because “no City dollars are being spent or received.” Individuals donate to the city, and the city allots that money to hurricane victims.

The city government appears to be acting as nothing more than a go-between, a means by which to connect people who need help with people willing to give it. But apparently, due to a recent law passed in Texas, the city is requiring people to make a pledge before they can receive any aid — one that cuts straight to the heart of free speech.

Right in the grant application, The Dickinson city council says residents cannot participate in the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement against Israel. From that form:

“By executing this Agreement below, the Applicant verifies that the Applicant: (1) does not boycott Israel; and (2) will not boycott Israel during the term of this Agreement.”

If it sounds to you like a governmental body is requiring citizens to adhere to a particular political ideology before they can receive aid following a natural disaster, then your hearing is just fine. That’s what the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also heard, and they felt obliged to say something about it. From a press release on Thursday:

“The city of Dickinson, Texas, is requiring applicants for Hurricane Harvey rebuilding funds to certify in writing that they will not take part in a boycott of Israel. The American Civil Liberties Union criticized the city’s condition as a violation of free speech rights.”

Andre Segura, legal director for the ACLU of Texas, says the pledge reminds him of another time in America’s past:

“The First Amendment protects Americans’ right to boycott, and the government cannot condition hurricane relief or any other public benefit on a commitment to refrain from protected political expression. Dickinson’s requirement is an egregious violation of the First Amendment, reminiscent of McCarthy-era loyalty oaths requiring Americans to disavow membership in the Communist party and other forms of ‘subversive’ activity.”

As the ACLU points out in its press release, the Dickinson city council appears to be trying to enforce a Texas law passed in May that forbids government agencies from contracting with companies that boycott Israel. Text from Section 1 of House Bill 89 is almost identical to the provision in the Dickinson application form.

Dickinson’s city attorney told local KTRK the council was only following the law, though how exactly a law pertaining to companies contracting with state agencies applies to a city council handing out publicly donated money remains unclear. After all, as the council itself stated, “no City dollars are being spent or received.”

Local attorney Randy Kallinen says the ACLU is right on target.

“The application clearly requires people to have a certain political expression in order to get government benefits,” he told KTRK.

Kallinen also pointed out the obvious fact that people recovering from a natural disaster shouldn’t be required to pledge themselves to anything — let alone stipulations from a government body — other than putting their lives back together.

“Conditioning the much-needed relief from Harvey and other disasters upon adopting a certain political position is really something that is very distracting and slows down the process of rebuilding after Harvey,” he said.

Make no mistake, this is suppression of free speech. The Supreme Court ruled decades ago that people have a constitutionally protected right to boycott under the First Amendment. If restrictions similar to what is happening in Dickinson are allowed to stand, how long will it be before it becomes routine practice for governments — even local ones — try to tell you what you can and can’t think?

Creative Commons / Anti-Media / Report a typo

Texas Officials Forcing Hurricane Victims to Pledge Loyalty to Israel to Receive Funding—Seriously

According to official documents, Hurricane Harvey victims reportedly have to agree to not "boycott Israel," in order to receive aid to rebuild their homes.

Texas Inmates Shatter the Paradigm, Donate Tens of Thousands for Hurricane Relief

Houston, TX — Showing that bad laws actually put good people behind bars, inmates serving time in Texas prisons have made an inspiring effort to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey that laid waste to the South East portion of the state.

According to Texas prison officials, inmates donated more than $53,000 to charity to help with hurricane relief efforts.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark says more than 6,600 inmates donated money between Aug. 31 and Sept. 30.

“They were requesting to donate money,” said Clark. “It’s just something they chose to do.”

The inmates mostly donated money from their small allowances — $95 every two weeks – that are used for purchasing paper, pencils, and personal hygiene items, according to FOX.

While most inmates gave on average of $8 each — nearly five percent of their entire monthly stipend — some inmates gave hundreds of dollars.

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So how is a prison, which is ostensibly in place to hold society’s worst, able to garner such massive support for a charity? Well, the answer to that question is fairly simple. Many of the people in prison are not society’s worst.

According to the most recent data from the Texas Department of Public Safety, nearly 70,000 people were arrested in 2014 for possessing a plant that is legal in some form in over half the country—cannabis.

Of those 70,000 arrests, 97 percent of them were for possession alone. In total, over 122,000 people are arrested every year in the state of Texas for possessing substances deemed illegal by the state.

READ MORE:  Cops Acquitted Despite Graphic Video Showing them Run Over Innocent Man & Savagely Beat Him

Of the roughly 140,000 prisoners currently serving time, 56,000 of them are behind bars after being charged with possession of drugs.

Good people who have problems with addiction then start filling these prisons statewide. When these people get out of prison, their lives are ruined as they become unemployable, are unable to find a place to live and this, in turn, results in disastrous effects on the economy.

Tens of thousands of people — many of which are kind and caring members of society, as these donations show — have their lives ruined every year in the state of Texas because they use a beneficial plant that has never been attributed to a single death, or they are addicted to drugs.

Sadly, this exact same scenario that was just explained about Texas, plays out in every state in the country.

This is no accident either.

The prison and police system in this country has powerful control over lawmakers and it uses this control to keep drugs illegal as a means of justifying their existence and creating massive windfalls for themselves and companies who deal in fostering the growth of the police state.

Millions of dollars a year are thrown at lawmakers to keep the war on drugs alive as the war on drugs is what keeps the prison industrial complex alive.

It was not a coincidence that Jeff Sessions’ appointment as Attorney General sent prison stocks soaring. He is a rabid anti-cannabis activist and a massive proponent of the failed war on drugs.

Sadly, people see this extensive network of corrupt politicians writing laws to have cops ruin the lives of otherwise good people and they think this justice. Sadly, they couldn’t be further from the truth.

READ MORE:  EXPOSED: Shocking Video Sheds Light on the Disturbing Trend of Police Theft

The person who wants to ingest a substance for medical or recreational reasons is not the criminal. However, the person that would enact or support the kidnapping, caging, or killing of someone because they have a different lifestyle, is a villain on many fronts.

So, when does this vicious cycle end?

The good news is that the drug war’s days are numbered. Evidence of this is everywhere. States are defying the federal government and refusing to lock people in cages for marijuana. A record number of law enforcement personnel are even quitting their jobs and joining the push to end the drug war.

Colorado and Washington served as a catalyst in a seemingly exponential awakening to the government’s immoral war. Following suit were Oregon, D.C., and Alaska, and now Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada. Medical marijuana initiatives are becoming a constant part of legislative debates nationwide. We’ve even seen bills that would not only completely legalize marijuana but deregulate it entirely, like corn — and this was in Texas!

Also, while the idea of treating an addict with compassion instead of violence is a radical notion in this country, in other countries, such as Portugal, its effects have been realized for more than a decade. In 2001, the Portuguese government decriminalized all drugs.

14 years later, drug use, crime, and overdoses have drastically declined in Portugal exposing the cruel reality of prohibition. Eventually, more states will adopt this approach, and the drug war tyrants will finally be outnumbered.

As more and more states refuse to kidnap and cage marijuana users, the drug war will continue to implode. We must be resilient in this fight as the donations out of Texas show us that many good people are in a bad place and they need our help.

READ MORE:  After Sending a Carrier Strike Group to Confront China, US Sends 3 Nuclear Bombers to the Pacific

If doing drugs bothers you, don’t do drugs. When you transition from holding an opinion — to using government violence to enforce your personal preference, you become the bad guy who can unwittingly punish good guys. If these donations show us anything, it is that it is time to stop being the bad guy.

Vulture Investors Swarm To Houston As Flooded Homes Sell For 40 Cents On The Dollar

      "The time to buy is when after there"s blood water in the streets."

As 1,000"s of families along the Texas shoreline continue to struggle with putting their lives back together following the apocalyptic landfall of Hurricane Harvey roughly 6 weeks ago, vulture investors are increasingly swooping in to exploit their misery with offers to buy flooded homes for cents on the dollar.  As Bloomberg points out this morning, one such investor is Bryan Schild who has sourced capital from local "hard-money lenders" to scoop up 30 flooded homes for as little as 40 cents on the dollar.

Bryan Schild drives through the byways of Houston looking for what could be the investment opportunity of a lifetime: homes selling for as little as 40¢ on the dollar. “We Pay Cash For Flooded Homes $$$$$$$$ Don’t fix it, sell it. Quick close,” read the signs piled in the back seat of his Ford pickup.

Schild stops by a ranch-style house where 74-year-old Paul Matlock lives with his wife, disabled from multiple sclerosis. Matlock is desperate to leave and is considering Schild’s offer of $120,000—half the home’s value three weeks earlier. A half-dozen other investors have made offers, one as low as $55,000. “The whole thing makes me feel like there’s a bunch of vultures sitting on my back fence,” Matlock says. “They’re waiting for the dead body to fall over.”

It’s axiomatic on Wall Street that the time to buy is when fear overtakes greed—when blood (or, in this case, water) is in the streets. Now some are eyeing the billions of dollars in hurricane-ravaged property in Texas and Florida and deciding it may be the time to take out their checkbooks. Investors such as Schild figure they can buy low, either fix up and flip the houses or rent them out for several years, and unload them later, doubling their money or more.

And if exploiting the elderly isn"t enough to make you a little queasy, how about taking advantage of a disabled Army vet who has been forced to live out of a hotel room and eat two meals a day just to save a little cash after he lost his home to Hurricane Harvey...

One of Schild’s prospects is Joseph Hernandez, a disabled U.S. Army veteran married to a housekeeper. The couple are living in a hotel and saving money by eating only two meals a day. Schild has made them a painful offer. If they walk away from their two-bedroom house, worth $127,000 before Hurricane Harvey, Schild will pick up the mortgage payments, paying nothing else. Although he says he sympathizes with the Hernandezes’ plight, he thinks the offer is fair because he figures the home is now worth less than its $65,000 mortgage.

Hernandez is in a bind. He didn’t buy flood insurance because his house wasn’t in a high-risk area. He can’t afford to rebuild, and he’s been told he’s eligible for only $23,000 in federal assistance. If he turns over the deed, he’s looking at losing the entire $60,000 in equity he had before the flood. “It’s blurry, what’s coming,” he says. “We’ll probably have to sell to an investor, and that’s not good. We were forced out.”

Hernandez isn’t ready to take Schild’s deal. But Matlock, who rescued his disabled wife from chest-high water, is tempted by the investor’s $120,000 offer. Their home, now stripped to the beams, has flooded twice in two years. Schild says Matlock should be able to recover much of his loss on the house’s value through federal flood insurance. (In past storms, homeowners have complained the program lowballed them.) Before he leaves, he asks Matlock to spread the word. “Anybody looking to sell, tell them to call me,” he says. “I’ll give them a bid.”

But, it"s not just small-time, local investors looking to earn big profits from the misery of displaced Texans.  Nope, wall street investors, led by Bain Capital, are also getting involved.

The cycle begins with small-time investors such as Schild, who’s bought more than 30 waterlogged houses for an average $175,000 apiece. Then Wall Street swoops in. Gary Beasley, former chief executive officer of Waypoint Homes, also sees an opportunity. He’s pitching private equity firms and pension funds on the potential profit in buying flooded homes, repairing them, and renting them back to homeowners.

Bain Capital LP and billionaire Marc Benioff, co-founder of Salesforce.com Inc., are backing Beasley’s two-year-old company, Roofstock Inc. It runs a website where investors can buy and sell single-family rental properties. Beasley thinks owner-occupants may be interested in selling there, too, and that flooded neighborhoods are the Next Big Thing. “It’s much like the housing crisis, when the institutional guys came in to buy homes nobody wanted,” he says. Like other investors, Beasley and Schild view themselves as helping homeowners to move on and Houston to rebuild.

Of course, as Andrea Heuson, a finance professor at the University of Miami, points out, most of the people selling aren"t doing so because of a lack of financial sophistication that impairs their ability to comprehend the fact that they"re getting shafted but rather just a complete lack of alternatives.

Others take a less rosy view. “What worries me is people making pretty dramatic decisions without the education to figure out what the alternatives are and without looking at the situation rationally,” says Andrea Heuson, a finance professor at the University of Miami who specializes in mortgages. Some of those considering Beasley’s strategy don’t want to be named for fear of looking like catastrophe profiteers, Beasley says.

Many homeowners would be forgiven for panicking. During hurricanes Harvey and Irma, wind and water damaged almost 1.8 million homes, causing uninsured flood losses of as much as $57 billion, according to CoreLogic Inc., a real estate data firm. Homeowners without federal flood insurance are most likely to be desperate. Those with policies don’t yet know how much they’ll get for their losses, which is key to deciding whether it makes sense to sell.

On the upside, these displaced families will be able to buy their homes back from Bain at double in the price in 5 years or so...

WTF? “Black Sky” drill went live just two days before Hurricane Harvey made landfall

(INTELLIHUB) — Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas on August 25 just two days after the Electric Infrastructure Security Council (EIS) held its annual EARTH EX drill which focused on a “Black Sky” event.

According to literature found on the EIS Council’s official website, ‘severe malicious or natural “Black Sky” hazards’ pose a risk to critical infrastructure and on a “sub-continent scale” which may lead to cascading long-term “power outages” thus creating “a grim and difficult dilemma” because of the fact that the “restoration of any sector will only be possible with at least minimal operation of all the others.”

Ladies and gentlemen, this is exactly what we saw with both Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma after hundreds of thousands of residents were left without power for extended periods of time.

In fact, in Florida, Irma’s heavy wind, and flooding were so bad that 11 people died in a nursing home as they patiently waited for waited for workers to restore power.

“To deal with this deadlock, careful sector by sector and cross-sector resilience planning is crucial. However, such plans, to be effective, must be exercised. With the diversity and the national and global scale of the infrastructures we now depend on, this requires an unprecedented, multi-sector, national and international exercise series,” the CIS Council confirms.

So what is EARTH EX?

According to the EIS Council, “EARTH EX is an evolving, distributed, collaborative partner-developed exercise designed to meet this need. Hosted by EIS Council as part of the EPRO® Resource Family, these annual multi-sector, international exercises are being developed to evaluate and improve restoration support, preparedness, response and recovery plans for severe hazards. As the series continues, it will provide increasing opportunities to enhance coordinated planning across all infrastructure sectors, and their corporate, government and NGO partners.”

Additionally, the NIS Council’s official website lists the four areas of focus for their Aug. 23, 2017, drill as follows:

• Executive and senior operational decision-making


• Initiating and coordinating initial sector response and restoration actions


• Multi-sector emergency communication and coordination


• Developing sector recommendations for Improved restoration support and resilience

What is a “Black Sky” hazard?

A “Black Sky” hazard has been separated by the NIS Council into two potential categories: “natural,” and “manmade.”

The council suggests that “manmade hazards” include EMP’s, such as a high-altitude magnetic pulse, intentional electromagnetic interference, cyberterrorism, or a coordinated physical assault. All of which are viable potentials for sure but the “natural hazards” listed by the council are what have my mind spinning.

A major seismic event, a geomagnetic disturbance — yes such natural disasters are possible and can occur — but what stands out to me is the fact that the NIS Council lists “hurricanes and other severe weather events” on their list of “natural disasters” and may quite possibly have drilled for such a scenario as Hurricane Harvey approached, made landfall, in Texas.

Remember, Harvey made landfall just two days after EARTH EX was scheduled to take place! Is this a coincidence? It has already been speculated that hurricane Harvey was engineered and was steered into Houston as a weather weapon!

Hat Tip: @Tabertronic on Twitter

Featured Image: Joe Diaz/Flickr

©2017. INTELLIHUB.COM All Rights Reserved. 

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Shepard Ambellas is an opinion journalist, analyst, and the founder and editor-in-chief of Intellihub News & Politics (Intellihub.com). Shepard is also known for producing Shade: The Motion Picture (2013) and appearing on Travel Channel’s America Declassified (2013). Shepard is a regular contributor to Infowars. Read more from Shep’s World. Follow Shep on Facebook. Subscribe to Shep’s YouTube channel.

Follow @ShepardAmbellas

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"I Don't Have Anything To Start Over" - Harvey Victims Pray For Relief As 1000s Remain Stuck In Shelters

It’s been nearly a month since Hurricane Harvey, a storm that some expect to rank among the costliest natural disasters in US history, and still tens of thousands of Texans remain marooned in temporary housing, unable to return to their flood-damaged homes, while thousands more are struggling to secure hotel rooms and other types of temporary housing, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The scramble for housing has caused occupancy rates at hotels in the Houston area to surge as disaster recovery officials scramble to arrange short-term and permanent housing for those left homeless by the storm. The task of securing shelter for the displaced could take months.

“Lillian Godfrey has been sleeping on an air mattress on the floor of her friend’s shuttered night club, alongside her daughter and two pool tables, ever since floodwaters swept into her home here last month.

Ms. Godfrey, 74 years old, has a federal voucher for a hotel, but hasn’t had any luck finding a room nearby. Her daughter’s cars were lost in the flooding.

“’It’s heartbreaking,’ she said. “The Lord closes some doors and opens others. He’s going to pull me through this sooner or later.’”

As recently as Saturday night, 4,700 people remained in Red Cross shelters across Texas on Saturday night, according to the relief group. Initially as many as 450,000 Texans were displaced by the storm, while as many as 30,000 sought temporary relief in one of the state’s shelters.

Some of the displaced, uneasy with the prospect of living elsewhere, have remained in their water-damaged homes. Others were staying with friends, family or even strangers.

For the first full week of September, hotel occupancy in Houston grew to 80.5%, nearly double the occupancy rate from the same period a year earlier, according to STR Inc., a data company that tracks the hotel industry.

It is still unclear how many people in Texas will lose their homes because of the storm or how many eventually will be able to move back. But some estimates expect the total damages to property and the US economy in terms of lost productivity could tally as high as $190 billion.

“While the final scope and scale of the housing challenge is still being realized, it is already apparent that this will be one of the largest, most complex efforts ever undertaken,” said Michael Byrne, who is heading up relief efforts in Texas for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

According to data collected by WSJ from the state, city and county level, some estimated 50,712 homes suffered major damage in the storm. Meanwhile, 14,952 were destroyed and 76,364 experienced minor damage.

Local officials say 130,000 single-family homes in Harris County, which includes Houston, were estimated to have been affected by the rampant flooding. Between 2,000 and 3,000 large apartment buildings likely sustained damage, and up to 5,000 smaller apartment buildings may have been damaged as well.

“In terms of the sheer destruction due to the flooding, this is unprecedented in modern times for Houston,” said Tom McCasland, Houston’s director of housing and community development."

In some towns, the flooding remains so dire that even locations that were initially planned to be shelters flooded, forcing officials to convert public buildings like schools into back up shelters.  

“In Port Arthur, a coastal city of about 55,000, Mayor Derrick Freeman called the housing situation “dire” in the wake of heavy flooding damage.

This past week, one shelter at a middle school was full after the city’s main shelter had flooded weeks earlier, and some 250 people had been evicted from their homes by landlords because of flood damage, according to Mr. Freeman.

Another several hundred were being housed at shelters around the state, and between 4,000 and 5,000 people were still living in flood-damaged homes, Mr. Freeman said.”

In Port Arthur, city officials had hoped to temporarily house some of the displaced on two barges that a private company was going to transport from nearby Louisiana. However, by Friday, plans had shifted, and large air-conditioned tents were brought in by FEMA and the state to house the evacuees who had been sheltering at the school.

Meanwhile, many victims who were given hotel vouchers by FEMA are finding it difficult to secure rooms thanks to sky high occupancy rates.

“Debby Valsin, a 54-year-old retiree, had been living at the middle school shelter in Port Arthur with her nine-year-old grandson. She said her landlord terminated her lease after the floods because her apartment was uninhabitable, giving her five days to haul out her belongings.

Ms. Valsin qualifies for a FEMA hotel voucher but said all the nearby hotels she called are full. For now, with the start of school Monday, Ms. Valsin expected to be moved from the shelter into the tents.

‘Your life is upside down,’ she said. ‘I don’t have anything to start over.’”

However, while the situation remains incredibly dire for people on the ground, there may at least be a silver lining in the unprecedented damage brought by the storm – for auto manufacturers, that is.

As we reported last month, while terrible news to car dealers - many of whom face bankruptcy if their insurance policies don"t cover all the damages – the storm may be just what the struggling U.S. OEM and supplier industry ordered, according to a RBC.

That is, if locals have any resources left over to purchase new vehicles after their finished covering any out-of-pocket costs, which, despite President Donald Trump signing an aid package worth $15 billion.
 

$700 Billion Unpaid Mortgage Balances In Hurricane Harvey And Irma Disaster Areas

Even as the damage from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma is still being tallied, a preliminary assessment released last week by Black Knight Financial Services estimated that as many as 300,000 borrowers in the vicinity of Houston could become delinquent on their loans and 160,000 could become seriously delinquent, or more than 90 days past due. 

That number is roughly four times the original prediction because new disaster zones were designated and more homes flooded when officials released water from reservoirs to protect dams, according to CNBC"s Diana Olick. In total, the number of mortgaged properties in Texas disaster zones is 1.18 million, with Black Knight adding that Houston disaster zones contain twice as many mortgaged properties than Katrina zones, with four times the unpaid principal balance.

Putting the Harvey damange in context, after Hurricane Katrina mortgage delinquencies in Louisiana and Mississippi disaster areas spiked by 25%. The same could happen in Houston, as borrowers without flood insurance weigh their options and decide to walk away from the property. While they will get some federal relief, if rebuilding would cost more than the principal in their homes, they could decide to walk away according to Olick.

What about Irma?

According to a preliminary analysis by Black Knight released today, Florida FEMA-designated disaster areas related to Hurricane Irma include a whopping 3.1 million mortgaged properties.  As Black Knight"s EVP Ben Graboske explained, both the number of mortgages and the unpaid principal balances of those mortgages in FEMA-designated Irma disaster areas are significantly larger than in the areas impacted recently by Hurricane Harvey.

Quantifying the damage, Black Knight calculates that Irma-related disaster areas contain nearly three times as many mortgaged properties as those connected to Hurricane Harvey, and nearly seven times as many as those connected to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In dollar terms, this means that there is some $517 billion in unpaid principal balances in Irma-related disaster areas, nearly three times the amount as in those related to Harvey and more than 11 times of those connected to Katrina.

“While the total extent of the damage from Hurricane Irma is still being determined, it is clear that the size and scope of the disaster is immense,” said Graboske.

“Indeed, in terms of the number of mortgaged properties and their associated unpaid principal balances, Irma significantly outpaces even the number of borrowers impacted by Hurricane Harvey. With FEMA expanding the number of Irma-related designated disaster areas late Wednesday, Sept. 13, to a total of 37 Florida counties, more than 90 percent of all mortgaged properties in the state now fall into such areas. More than 3.1 million properties are now included in FEMA-designated Irma disaster areas, representing approximately $517 billion in unpaid principal balances. In comparison, Harvey-related disaster areas held 1.18 million properties – more than twice as many as with Hurricane Katrina in 2005 – with a combined unpaid principal balance of $179 billion. Irma-related disaster areas now contain nearly seven times as many mortgaged properties as those connected to Katrina, with more than 11 times the principal balances.

Combining the preliminary estimates for both Harvey and Irma suggests that over 3.3 million total mortgaged properties are located in Irma and Harvey-related FEMA Disaster zones, while the dollar amount of total unpaid mortgage balances in these two zones is massive: between Irma"s $517 billion and Harvey"s $179 billion, the total potential damage could impact as much as a $696 billion in notional mortgage values, which banks could be on the hook for if current occupiers decide to simply walk away.

Based on back of the envelope analyses by Black Knight, an extrapolation of the Katrina damage would suggest that Florida could suffer as much as 750,000 mortgage delinquencies as a result of Hurricane Irma.

To be sure, there are mitigating circumstances: Florida borrowers likely have more insurance and less exposure to loss, but for those homes with the most damage, homeowners will be making the same calculation as those that suffered devastating flooding after Harvey. Another issue in Florida according to Olick is that even a decade later, the housing market is still recovering from the foreclosure crisis. Five percent of Florida borrowers still owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, and an additional 5 percent have very little equity in their homes. Home prices in Fort Myers, which saw considerable flooding from Irma, are still 29 percent below what they were during the housing boom.

Still, in order to avoid a surge in foreclosures, lenders are more likely to offer borrowers, even seriously delinquent borrowers, options to catch up, although the biggest risk to lenders will be in Houston, where some homeowners may see no good reason to stay.

There was some silver lining: “As Irma forged its path of destruction through the Caribbean, one relatively positive development was that Puerto Rico escaped the direct hit many had predicted. From a mortgage performance perspective, this was particularly good news, as delinquencies there were already quite high leading up to the storm. At more than 10 percent, Puerto Rico’s delinquency rate is nearly three times that of the U.S. average, as is its 5.8 percent serious delinquency rate. In contrast, the disaster areas declared in Florida have starting delinquency rates below the national average, providing more than a glimmer of optimism as we move forward.”

Unfortunately, Hurricane Maria, now a Category 3, is expected to hit Puerto Rico some time on Wednesday, adding to the damage already suffered from Irma, and potentially sending the already bankrupt territory reeling even deeper into the financial hole.

As Thousands Left Homeless from Hurricanes, Trump Sends $75 Million MORE to Israel

As many Americans struggle to get back on their feet after their homes were destroyed by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the United States government has insisted that the only way to raise money for relief efforts is to increase the national debt—while setting aside another $75 million in aid for Israel.

Just one year ago, the Obama Administration signed the largest military aid deal in U.S. history, promising Israel $38 Billion over the next 10 years. However, while the deal stated that Israel was expected to return any money that was more than the original amount, the Trump Administration is breaking the rules.

According to a report from the Jerusalem Post, while Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was against giving an additional $75 million to Israel, a senior State Department official insisted that, “The administration is committed to ensuring that Israel receives the assistance that has been appropriated by Congress,” and that Trump will “work to ensure the $75 million in additional aid is delivered.”

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While Congress had no problem giving Israel another $75 million in military aid, it did so by once again turning a blind eye to the long list of human rights abuses carried out by the Israeli military—and funded by the United States. Israel has occupied Palestine since 1967, and in those 50 years, it has been accused of numerous categories of human rights violations, according to a report from Human Rights Watch:

“At least five categories of major violations of international human rights law and humanitarian law characterize the occupation: unlawful killings; forced displacement; abusive detention; the closure of the Gaza Strip and other unjustified restrictions on movement; and the development of settlements, along with the accompanying discriminatory policies that disadvantage Palestinians.”

When Donald Trump ran a campaign based on “Making America Great Again” and truly putting “America First,” his supporters latched on to his promises, as if his presence in the White House would make everything different. While some of Trump’s supporters were adamant about his support for Israel, it should be noted that the Trump Administration is not just putting Israel first—it is also putting every country that is a recipient of U.S. foreign aid at a time when Americans desperately need help, first.

Went out to Rockport to help law enforcement families who have devastating loss & damage due to Hurricane Harvey. #TexasStrong pic.twitter.com/EPgzHjfnJV

— Destiny ❁ (@dessttinyy) September 10, 2017

As Congress debated raising the Debt Ceiling, in order to find money for hurricane relief efforts, Sen. Rand Paul proposed an amendment that would allocate $7.85 billion in aid for repairing the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey, with an additional $2.5 billion set aside to prepare for Hurricane Irma—all by simply making cuts to foreign aid.

READ MORE:  Trump Says He Saw Muslims Celebrating On 9/11 -- But He Was Wrong, It was Israeli Mossad Agents

“My amendment, the ‘America First’ amendment, would take the money from money that we were going to send to foreign countries,” Paul said. “We send billions and billions of dollars to countries who hate us. We send billions and billions of dollars to countries who burn our flag. I think it’s a very simple choice that when we’re looking at those in need in our country, we quit sending money to other countries.”

Stunning drone footage captures severe damage, flooding in Naples after Hurricane #Irma plows through the area. https://t.co/OXfmsaECNM pic.twitter.com/2sK1Kqcz4g

— ABC News (@ABC) September 11, 2017

In response to Paul’s proposal, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made a motion to table it, which passed 87-10. Unfortunately, while the majority of Congress does not seem to care about how much money the U.S. is wasting on foreign aid, it also does not seem to care about the status of the National Debt.

The United States’ National Debt surpassed $20 TRILLION this week, after jumping $317,645,000,000 in one day. The Trump administration’s $75 million gift to Israel is in addition to the record-breaking $3.8 billion a year the country already receives from the U.S.

The idea that the United States should continue to hand out obscene amounts of money it doesn’t have to the nations it favors—with no oversight—is a reminder that the vast majority of the elected officials who claim to represent the will of the American public, do not have their best interest in mind.

Three Reasons Why Retail Sales Are About To Disappoint Bigly

On Friday the Department of Commerce will report August retail sales, a material report which all else equal, may influence whether the Fed proceeds with its plans to unveil balance sheet tapering in its upcoming FOMC meeting. However, as we discussed last week, the report, together with virtually all other high frequency economic reports, will be materially distorted by the destructive aftermath of hurricane Harvey (Irma"s impact will be felt in the September retail report).

While Goldman recently showed the historical impact of hurricanes and other natural disasters on virtually every economic data series...

... of particular interest in the coming days will be the biggest driver behind the US economy, namely retail spending, and specifically whether the recent natural disasters led to a sharp - and potentially sustained - slump. According to internal Bank of America credit and debit card spending data released as usual just days ahead of the official government report, there does appears to be a substantial adverse impact. The question is how much of this is secular, and how much is a continuation of recent weakness in retail spending. Further complicating matters is a seasonal quirk, with the August spending report coming at the peak "back to school" spending period, coupled with the recent Amazon Prime Day which led to further distortions in retail spending patterns.

As BofA"s Michelle Meyer calculates, retail sales ex-autos, as measured by BAC aggregated credit and debit card data, declined 0.1% mom seasonally adjusted in August, leaving the 3-month moving average tracking flat for the month. Consumers shifted spending to gasoline stations, which were up strongly in the month, owing in part to Hurricane Harvey.

After controlling for the increase in gasoline spending, retail sales ex-autos and gasoline declined 0.4%: one of the sharpest declines YTD, and a confirmation of the continuing divergence between BofA (blue line) which has hugged the flatline in recent months, and official government data, which while week, has demonstrated modest Y/Y growth.

According to Bank of America, there are three key factors influencing the data this month:

1. Hurricane Harvey;


2. the pull-forward of retail spending into July by Amazon Prime Day; and


3. back-to-school shopping.

In an attempt to isolate the influence of Hurricane Harvey which made Texas landfall on August 25, BofA first examined daily spending in Texas which shows that spending picked up in the days heading into the hurricane but remained depressed through the event and in the days after, as one would expect.

Meyer explains:

We estimate that the net reduction of spending in Texas sliced 0.1-0.2pp from the monthly growth rate of total retail sales ex-autos in August. We then dug deeper and looked at the impact by the type of spend which reveals that necessary items (food and gasoline) increased in the month while more discretionary items declined (Chart 2). We also measured spending by major region in Texas (MSAs) which shows significant decline in Houston but continued growth in regions not hit by Harvey (Chart 3)

The charts below provide further evidence that Harvey caused a net drag to spending in the areas hit directly. In contrast, there was trend-like growth in MSAs in Texas which were not directly impacted by Harvey.

However, it wasn"t just Harvey explaining the sharp drop in ex-gasoline sales. In addition to the adverse reginal impact from Harvey, August retail sales were also likely held
back by the strong success of Amazon Prime-day in July. BofA data shows that Prime Day pulled forward activity from August into July.

Finally, and perhaps most concerning, the third indication that retail sales are set to disappoint, BofA writes that while it did not find much of a story for the back-to-school season, its proxy for back-to-school sales showed growth of just 2.4% yoy, down more than 50% the 5.4% yoy pace last year.

This is a problem because according to the National Retail Federation"s annual survey, families were projected to spend approximately $29.5bn on back-to-school items which would translate to an 8% yoy increase from the prior year"s spending plans. Unfortunately, those spending plans have not translated to actual spending as expectations have once again overshot spending patterns as they did in 2011 and 2012 but were below in 2013-2015.

Finally, broken down by category, BofA finds that on a % mom basis, consumer spending declined in most categories in August with only food and beverage, gasoline stations and cruise showing an increase. As noted above, spending on food and beverage and gasoline stations likely saw a boost due to Hurricane Harvey as households stocked up on essentials.

BofA"s Bottom line: the weakness in August retail sales, already expected to come in at near stall-speed levels, is likely exaggerated by the hurricane and July prime-day.

The good news is that while Hurricane Irma may depress spending in September, retail sales typically bounce back after a natural disaster, suggesting upside into 4Q. Unless, of course, it forces an even greater decline in spending, as the following charts showing the secular decline in retail sales indicate.

Weather Channel Makes Shock Claim That Meteorologists Saw ‘A Face’ In A Satellite Image Of Hurricane Irma

A senior meteorologist at The Weather Channel is claiming that a satellite image of Hurricane Irma that comes from NASA’s earth science office “has an embedded face”. Some say that it kind of looks like a dinosaur, others believe that it looks like a pig, and yet others seem to think that it sort of resembles an elephant. Since most hurricanes have a clearly defined “eye”, all it really takes to make a “face” is to find a “mouth” on a satellite image somewhere. So I can understand what the guys over at the Weather Channel are saying, but it is not the type of claim that I would make. But needless to say, this photograph will probably be shared a few million times on Facebook. Here is an excerpt from the original Weather Channel article…

For the second year in a row, as a large hurricane threatened the United States, some swore they saw a face in satellite imagery of the storm.

The image above was posted early Saturday morning to Twitterby Stu Ostro, a senior meteorologist at The Weather Channel. As Hurricane Irma made landfall along the coast of northern Cuba, it appeared as if the satellite imagery of the storm had an embedded face.

You can argue whether the face better resembles a pig or an elephant, but it’s the second such face Ostro has spotted in a satellite image of a hurricane in as many years. Last October, as Hurricane Matthew’s eye moved away from Haiti, a very sinister face appeared in satellite imagery.

Storms such as this definitely seem to bring out the strangeness in people. Within hours of hurricane winds striking south Florida, people were already breaking into homes and looting stores. In fact, one local news stationcaptured footage of a “group of about 8-9 people” looting a retail store in broad daylight…

Local 10 cameras caught a group breaking into the Simon’s Sportswear on Sunrise Blvd. and Powerline Road.

The group of about 8-9 people broke through the front window and were seen walking in and then walking out with stolen items.

The group then began looting a Footlocker and CashAmerica Pawn Store in the same area.

Both Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma have caused absolutely catastrophic damage, and millions of lives have been completely turned upside down. For those of us that live in areas that were not affected by these storms, it can be difficult to grasp the extreme stress that people down in Texas and Florida have been experiencing.

I would like to share with you a letter that was sent to me by a reader named Carol. She said that I could share this with my readers, and my hope is that this will encourage you to pray for those that have been caught in the middle of these storms…

*****

Dear Michael,

I felt impressed to write to you this morning. The situation here in Florida is very, very tense. My husband and I live in Boynton Beach, FL, near West Palm Beach, on the southeast coast. My son lives in a condo close by.

When the storm appeared to be coming straight towards us, we had to quickly decide what was important to us, and literally threw everything in the back of our car that we ever expected to own again, as we left the east coast to go to his brother’s house in Tampa, FL on the west coast.

Now that we are in Tampa, the storm is , at least for now, coming straight for us here. My 21 year old son refused to come with us as he wants to stay behind and experience the “adventure”. I begged and pleaded, but he would not come.

As the path trajectory vascillates around, we have noticed how the track is going from one coast to the other, throwing everyone in the whole state into a panic. Except for the snowflakes of course, who also think this is no big deal.

Why I’m writing, Michael, is that strange things have been happening in the last couple of days. I am a Christian, and so are my friends. But I don’t hear God’s voice talking to me, or have prophetic dreams, or anything like that.

2 days ago, when I was in panic mode, driving around town trying to find gas, a CD in my car CD player popped out. I DID NOT TOUCH THE EJECT BUTTON. I was not even listening to the radio. I was focused on getting supplies .

I don’t even know what CD it was or when or how it got into my car, other than I was frantically packing stuff. I don’t even know the name of the CD or the musician. I tried to pushing it in , but it kept on jutting out , aggravating me as it was in the way. I finally just pushed the load button and it played.

And the song said:

I am the EYE in the SKY…I CAN READ YOUR MIND… I’M DEALING WITH FOOLS, BUT YOU WILL BE FINE.

At least those are the words that I heard. And the Holy Spirit came over me as I had to pull off the side of the road. It was God giving me a message. I broke down and cried.

Then that night I woke up in a sweat from a dream. I saw those 3 biblical guys, Mesach and ABendego , forgot the other name, in the middle of the fire , where they were protected. You know the story.

But the middle of the fire was the eye of the hurricane, which was 180 mph.

I think that God was saying that either myself or His people would be protected, even thought we are in the hurricane, like those biblical guys in the middle of the fire were protected.

The a girlfriend who lives in Melbourne, FL called me and said she was totally freaked out about something strange that just happened to her. She has one of those clear, plastic cutting boards on her counter. She came into the kitchen, had not touched the cutting board, nor was anything on it , and the board was sitting there completely shattered, into hundred of pieces.

She was totally freaked out and couldn’t understand how it happened. I then told her that very day I had the CD pop out of my CD player for no reason.

I don’t know what the cutting board means, but I told her that maybe it meant her house would be shattered, and she then went into full preparation mode. This is a girl that had nothing in her fridge, nor her cupboard, who doesn’t even have a battery operated radio, and lives alone.

Maybe it means that the whole state of Florida will be shattered like glass.

When the evacuation order was issued for Miami Beach, I knew it was time to decide whether to stay in our house, or go. We have 2 very large trees on either side of the house, plus it was built in 1960 and the roof could come off. We decided to go to Tampa, as the storm appeared to be going to the east coast at the time.

I had to leave by myself with our 2 dogs first, as my husband needed more time to put up our hurricane shutters. I drove across the state on one tank of gas, with no gas at the gas stations available. I had only slept 3 hours , was exhausted, and didn’t even have time to map out my route. I knew I had to stay off the main roads, which are literally bumper to bumper. So I got on a back road and simply headed west.

My phone GPS maps brought me way out in the country, with no houses, near cow pastures and railroad tracks, in the middle of Florida. There were no cars, and I did not know if I would end up on a dirt road that led nowhere, with no gas, in thunderstorms and heavy rain. The roads were starting to flood.

But the GPS brought me straight to my brother in law’s house with no traffic, after 6 hours of driving.

Now that we are here, it appears the storm is headed straight for Tampa, where we now are. I am exhausted. The panic from the sheer gravity of the situation, doesn’t allow me to sleep but 3 hours.

For years I have been prepping for the “economic collapse”, when the SHTF. I now believe that this is the moment I have been preparing for. I believe that God will bring people to their knees, if they aren’t already there, with this storm.

I am prepared to have no home to go back to, nor for my son to even be alive.

I should be panicked, but after 5 long days of frantically facing the realism of what was happening, and God talking to me through my CD player, I now feel ready for whatever happens.

Knowing what hurricane Andrew did, and this storm being much stronger than Andrew, I know that we will be on our own for days, weeks, maybe months. We will have to live on the food that we bought yesterday, as we had to leave our preps behind, live without electricity, no air conditioning in 90 degree heat, and possibly in a house with no roof or walls.

But I will be here, along with others, helping strangers, getting to know our neighbors. And hopefully sharing stories of God’s mercy. It is the time for Christians to no longer be silent, no longer worry about what others may think of what they say. God is showing his Mighty Hand through mother nature.

I believe he is showing Florida that there is no way to get out of His wrath, because as people think they are getting away from the storm, it turns and starts coming towards them. There is no safe place in Florida right now.

Sure, there will be the ones who say that these storms are due to “global warming”. Those are the FOOLS, as the song said to me.

I doubt there will be internet here for awhile, but if there is, and you want to know what’s going on , on the ground here, I’d be glad to inform you. I fully realize we may not make it out of this alive, but now feel calm, despite that fact.

I want to thank you Michael, for your moral support and hard work, in bringing the truth to the people with your terrific articles. You have worked tirelessly for years with your research and writing. And I fully expect you to win your political race. Godspeed.

I’ll talk to you on the other side, either the storm or in heaven. May God have mercy on us here in Florida.

PS…You can print what I said if you want..

Sincerely,

Carol

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