LDSGator

True, but “we” (obviously I don’t speak for all Floridians) don’t care who helps us as long as it’s not FEMA and as long as they don’t advertise their helping from town square. Of course in emergencies we’ll take whatever help we can get. But afterwards you can count on us having disdain for anyone who publicly praises themselves or their group for helping everyone.

No true Floridian evacuates for a Cat 5 bro.

Yes, it’s clearly a joke. Everyone knows that and is in on it as well.

All governors do that for almost every storm. No matter what your political ideology is, you better be able to handle a hurricane down here or your career is doomed.

This meme is making the rounds down here. FLOGROWN is a clothing company that has a big following around here.

No one here likes FEMA. From socialist liberals to MAGA republicans -we unite in our hate of FEMA.

Once again, a lot depends on perspective. There’s sadness and depression here of course-you can’t see such devastation and be Pollyanna. But there’s also joy. People helping one another clean up. Calling to check in on you. Helping elderly evacuate. Strangers making sure you are prepared. It all depends on what you want to see. We’ve been beyond blessed/lucky these past ten years living here. Still are.

We aren’t in an evacuation zone.

You have no idea. My small town is booming with construction. All from Michigan, New York, and New Jersey. We are. Crystal River, the town next to me, gets flooded all the time. They are still picking up debris and trash from Helene. Hurricanes. Cyclones are different.

If someone can’t handle hurricanes, Florida isn’t the place for them. It’s not an insult. I couldn’t handle the cold and snow so I left New England. Best choice I ever made.

You can tell the veteran residents/snowbirds/newbies by how they react to hurricanes. The ones running around claiming that sky is falling are the newbies. The snowbirds are evacuating because many of them around here live in trailers/rvs. The veteran residents are prepared-but also relaxed. This isn’t our first hurricane, it’s not even our first cat 5.

My heart breaks for the town where our exchange daughter goes to school. They got slammed and now are expecting round two. For all the jokes about Florida, we’re the toughest people out there. We’ll get slammed, recover, rebuild, and keep on living our lives.

Florida resident here. It doesn’t. The town next to me got slammed and I’m waiting to hear from friends in North Carolina. But we’re still going to work, going to church, doing our hobbies, sending kids to school, and living our lives.

Exactly. For property crime, sure. But I’d add anger to the mix for other crimes. I’m sure they exist but you don’t see a lot of laid back, happy people plotting to kill their neighbors or starting gunfights after road rage incidents. Poverty and desperation have little to do with sexual assault as well.

That’s already happening down here. Aside from DeSantis, many republicans view illegal immigrants as Pompeia-they know if they talk bad about them they’ll lose the heavy hispanic counties.

“Marriage is being willing to lay down in traffic for your partner, but if he doesn’t stop snapping his gum I’m going to push him out of this car.”-Facebook post from Melissa many years ago

We have the death penalty down here officer.

I’ve told Melissa that if I ever get cranky and acrimonious in my old age to pull an Old Yeller on me. Take me out back, tell me about the rabbits, and make it quick.

Yes, both of them aren’t going to like that. There are no swing voters left.

I enjoyed the debate for that reason. It reminded me of old school, pre-Trump debates. Sure they disagree on a ton, but they acted like adults.

That’s sort of a fallacy. One, you aren’t crotchety and you are always polite and nice. Two, I think after age 30 or so personalities don’t change. A cranky, unpleasant man at age 60 was almost certainly a cranky, unpleasant man at age 29 too. Age just gives them an “excuse” to act like a jerk.

We still love you @JohnsonJones.

As a young man I thought things like “the truth” mattered, but one of the saddest things about growing up is realizing that very few people care about such lofty and idealistic words like “the truth”, especially in politics. I’ve turned into Benjamin from Animal Farm when it comes to politics.

Don’t accept any friend requests from some dude named @mirkwood. Nothing but left wing rants every day.

Melissa and I are planning to go to China to visit my BIL and some of the exchange students we’ve hosted over the years. Glad you had a good time.