The inside story of what it took to keep a Texas grocery chain running in the chaos of Hurricane Harvey | Chip Cutter | Pulse | LinkedIn

The inside story of what it took to keep a Texas grocery chain running in the chaos of Hurricane Harvey | Chip Cutter | Pulse | LinkedIn

The inside story of what it took to keep a Texas grocery chain running in the chaos of Hurricane Harvey

• Published on September 2, 2017
• Featured in: Apparel & Fashion, Big Ideas & Innovation, Company Culture, Economy, Editor's Picks, Food & Beverages, Law & Government, Leadership & Management, Marketing & Communication, Public Relations, Retail & E-Commerce, The Weekend Essay, What Inspires Me

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Chip Cutter

Managing editor at LinkedIn

In Texas, a grocery chain is now inspiring memes.

One goes like this: "State and federal resources are struggling to get into impacted areas. H.E.B. — outta the way, we're coming."

Another adds: "I’ll see your FEMA and Red Cross and raise you my Texas grocery store chain."

The images refer to the largest grocer in the state, H-E-B, with about 350 stores scattered throughout Texas and Mexico. At a time when retail watchers question the future of brick-and-mortar stores due to Amazon's continued ascendance, the 112-year-old retailer is drawing widespread praise after managing to open 60 of its 83 stores in Houston last Sunday, hours after Hurricane Harvey slammed into Texas as a Category 4 storm. (Now, 79 of the 83 stores are open.)..."

#1 This week 1966-----The Supremes: You Can't Hurry Love - Original (Take 1)

A "Super-Powerful" EMP Attack: North Korea's Newest Weapon Against The U.S. | Zero Hedge

A "Super-Powerful" EMP Attack: North Korea's Newest Weapon Against The U.S. | Zero Hedge
"...And while the North bragged about the weapon’s “great destructive power” in a TV broadcast, what caught analysts’ attention was a mention of a different tactic: detonating  an H-bomb at high altitude to create an electromagnetic pulse that could knock out parts of the US electrical grid.

Here’s WSJ:

“North Korea’s threats against the U.S. now include a tactic long discussed by some experts: an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, triggered by a nuclear weapon that would aim to shut down the U.S. electricity grid.

North Korea’s state news agency made a rare reference to the tactic in a Sunday morning release in which the country said it was able to load a hydrogen bomb onto a long-range missile. The bomb, North Korea said, ‘is a multifunctional thermonuclear nuke with great destructive power which can be detonated even at high altitudes for super-powerful EMP attack.’”

Unlike a conventional nuke, an EMP blast - think Oceans' 11 - is not directly lethal, and serves mostly to knock out key infrastructure (useful when robbing a casino).

However, it would probably lead to an unknown number of indirect deaths as hospitals and essential infrastructure lose power.

“...electromagnetic waves from the nuclear explosion would generate pulses to overwhelm the electric grid and electronic devices in the same way a lightning surge can destroy equipment.”

In the worst possible scenario, regional power grids could be offline for months (years?), potentially costing many deaths as people would eventually start running out of necessities like food and medicine. 
Lawmakers and the US military have been aware of the EMP threat for many years, according to WSJ. 
In a 2008 report commissioned by Congress, the authors warned that an EMP attack would lead to “widespread and long-lasting disruption and damage to the critical infrastructures that underpin the fabric of US society...”
Much more here.
Read on!

You ought to know!

IRS Gives Tax Exempt Status to Satanic Group in 10 Days - Makes Christian Groups Wait For Years

IRS Gives Tax Exempt Status to Satanic Group in 10 Days - Makes Christian Groups Wait For Years:

"Bill Marshall uncovered this stunning abuse by Obama’s IRS.

“An after school Satanic club was set up by the Satanic temple of Seattle, I believe was the sponsoring organization. What I was most curious about was how long it took the Reason Alliance to get its tax exempt status because as you may remember, the Tea Party groups back in 2010, ’11, ’12 effectively had their applications for tax exempt status from the IRS halted through log rolling,” Bill explained.

“So I contacted the IRS and I got the tax exemption application for the Reason Alliance…do you know how long it took them to get their tax exempt status?"

"Self Drive Act" Passes House Committee 54-0: Safety Standards Scrapped, 25,000 Driverless Cars Coming Right Up | Zero Hedge

"Self Drive Act" Passes House Committee 54-0: Safety Standards Scrapped, 25,000 Driverless Cars Coming Right Up | Zero Hedge
"Many contend that self-driving trucks and cars will not happen anytime soon for numerous reasons (most of them easily refuted).
One of the reasons is of lack of approval from Congress.
That argument will go on the ash heap of history by the end of the year because a bipartisan House Panel Approves Legislation Speeding Up Deployment of Self-Driving Cars.
An influential U.S. House committee on Thursday approved a revised bipartisan bill on a 54-0 vote that would speed the deployment of self-driving cars without human controls and bar states from blocking autonomous vehicles. 
The bill would allow automakers to obtain exemptions to deploy up to 25,000 vehicles without meeting existing auto safety standards in the first year, a cap that would rise to 100,000 vehicles annually over three years...."

AM Fruitcake

History for September 4

History for September 4 - On-This-Day.com
Henry Ford II 1917, Paul Harvey 1918, Craig Claiborne 1920



Dick York 1928, Damon Wayans 1960 - Actor, comedian ("My Wife and Kids"), Beyoncé Knowles 1981 - Singer (Destiny's Child)


1781 - Los Angeles, CA, was founded by Spanish settlers. The original name was "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula," which translates as "The Town of the Queen of Angels."


1882 - Thomas Edison's Pearl Street electric power station began operations in New York City. It was the first display of a practical electrical lighting system.


1886 - Geronimo, and the Apache Indians he led, surrendered in Skeleton Canyon in Arizona to Gen. Nelson Miles.


1888 - George Eastman registered the name "Kodak" and patented his roll-film camera. The camera took 100 exposures per roll.


1957 - The Ford Motor Company began selling the Edsel. The car was so unpopular that it was taken off the market only two years.


1967 - "Gilligan's Island" aired for the last time on CBS-TV. It ran for 98 shows.


1967 - Michigan Gov. George Romney said during a TV interview that he had undergone "brainwashing" by U.S. officials while visiting Vietnam in 1965.


1972 - Swimmer Mark Spitz captured his seventh Olympic gold medal in the 400-meter medley relay event at Munich, Germany. Spitz was the first Olympian to win seven gold medals.

Trump, Mattis, Mnuchin warn North Korea of 'overwhelming' military response, halted trade | Fox News

Trump, Mattis, Mnuchin warn North Korea of 'overwhelming' military response, halted trade | Fox News:

"President Trump suggested Sunday, after another underground nuclear test by North Korea, that he’ll halt trade with any country doing business with the rogue nation, as two members of the president's Cabinet issued tough warnings of their own.

“The United States is considering, in addition to other options, stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea,” tweeted Trump, in response to the regime of Kim Jong Un claiming to have detonated a hydrogen bomb underground."

The case for a special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton | New York Post

The case for a special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton | New York Post:

"America tried to let Hillary Clinton off the hook. Despite cries of “lock her up” during the campaign, most of the nation had little appetite for prosecuting her after the election, with even Donald Trump willing to give her a free pass.
“I don’t want to hurt the Clintons, I really don’t,” Trump told The New York Times two weeks after his victory. “She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways.”
But the Clinton e-mail scandal, like Clinton herself, won’t go away. It remains a blot on the legacy of the Obama administration, the Justice Department and the FBI, and now comes fresh evidence that the investigation that cleared her was a total sham."

Google Ultimatum to Conservative Website: Take Down 'Hateful' Article or Be Demonetized

Google Ultimatum to Conservative Website: Take Down 'Hateful' Article or Be Demonetized:


"On Tuesday evening, Google sent a conservative website an ultimatum: remove one of your articles, or lose the ability to make ad revenue on your website. The website was strong-armed into removing the content, and then warned that the page was "just an example and that the same violations may exist on other pages of this website.""

The way we were-----Bobby Darin - Dream Lover

Boob-tube-----The Price Is Right - May 31, 1957

ABC’s ‘Pink Slime’ Report Tied to $177 Million in Settlement Costs - The New York Times

ABC’s ‘Pink Slime’ Report Tied to $177 Million in Settlement Costs - The New York Times:
"The Walt Disney Company said in its latest quarterly financial statement that it had $177 million in costs related to settling litigation.
The announcement came just weeks after ABC News, a Disney unit, reached a settlement with a meat producer that accused the network of defamation for its reports about so-called pink slime, a processed beef product used as low-cost filler.
...on Thursday, Dan K. Webb, a lawyer who represented Beef Products in the trial, said the settlement was higher.
“As Disney disclosed, $177 million is not the total settlement amount. 
Based on Disney’s disclosure, it appears that Disney is funding $177 million of the settlement and its insurers are paying the rest,” he said in a statement emailed by a spokesman.
...Beef Products said a report in 2012 by Jim Avila, an ABC News correspondent, misled consumers about the safety of the product, which is officially known as “lean finely textured beef.”
The company had sought $1.9 billion in damages, but the figure could have grown to as much as $5.7 billion under a South Dakota law..."
Read on!

Joan of Arc statue in French Quarter tagged with 'Tear It Down' graffiti | NOLA.com

Joan of Arc statue in French Quarter tagged with 'Tear It Down' graffiti | NOLA.com
The phrase "Tear it Down" was hastily sprayed in black paint across the base of the golden Joan of Arc statue on Decatur Street in the French Quarter sometime earlier this week. It has since been removed, with only the vaguest traces of the paint remaining.

The "Tear it Down" tag would seem to relate to the debate surrounding the city's ongoing removal of four Confederate monuments. 
But the statue of Joan of Arc, a 15th-century military leader, martyr and Catholic saint, hasn't been mentioned in the controversy to this point..."

Red Cross donations discouraged by left-wing activists - Washington Times

Red Cross donations discouraged by left-wing activists - Washington Times:

"Activists are discouraging Hurricane Harvey donors from giving to the American Red Cross and urging them instead to contribute to left-wing causes, some of which are advocacy groups engaged in little if any emergency relief work.
Linda Sarsour, a prominent Muslim and feminist activist, sent out a tweet encouraging donors to give to the Texas Organizing Project Education Fund, which conducts “direct action organizing, grass-roots lobbying and electoral organizing led by working families in Texas.”"

'The new Obama': will Abdul El-Sayed be America's first Muslim governor?

'The new Obama': will Abdul El-Sayed be America's first Muslim governor?

• "Inequality and Opportunity in America 'The new Obama': will Abdul El-Sayed be America's first Muslim governor?
• The 32-year-old charismatic Muslim doctor is running for governor of Michigan and in the process trying to change US politics

...If El-Sayed wins, he will be the first Muslim governor in US history.
... El-Sayed’s résumé and progressive bonafides are nearly impeccable.
He is a Rhodes Scholar, a doctor, formerly a professor at an Ivy League university (where he wrote the textbook for his class) and is the former director for the health department in Detroit, the youngest in any major city. 
He’s only 32 years old, and would be the youngest governor since Bill Clinton in 1978.
He will also become a father for the first time in less than three months.
He has pledged to take no corporate Pac money and is unabashedly disdainful of big money influencing elections, calling corporate campaign contributions “bribes”.
He has pledged universal healthcare to all Michiganders if it fails on the federal level, says he will push to legalize marijuana and says he will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and make Michigan a “sanctuary state”: as a spokesman puts it, he is “unwilling to waste state taxpayer money to enforce federal law that would rob small businesses of hardworking employees and tear apart families”.
And he has a real chance of winning..."
Read on!