[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Macsporan', 'T')his must be an American phenomena.
Why do Americans always behave like gangsters when the going gets tough? ... Died for want of Social Cohesion.

[MrBean]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Leanan', 'T')he helicopter pilots say they are being targeted. People are beyond frustrated, and are shooting at everything.
CNN did a phone interview of a doctor who is trying to get her patients evacuated. They were attacked by a sniper. Not random gunfire. A guy on the roof of a nearby building, shooting at them while they tried to get patients out the hospital door.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')f so than someone's going to have to shoot back. This can't be allowed. These wretches are imperilling everyone, including themselves.

[tokyo_to_motueka]

recent live blogging from central NO
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')his guy is blogging from New Orleans' Central Business District (the CBD), where he and a few other daring souls are holed up on the tenth floor of a building on Poydras Street: New Orleans Police Department Status: The situation for the NOPD is critical. This is firsthand information I have from an NOPD officer we're giving shelter to. Their command and control infrastructure is shot. They have limited to no communication whatsoever. He didn't even know the city was under martial law until we told him! His precinct (5th Precinct) is under water! UNDER WATER -every vehicle under water. They had to commander moving trucks like Ryder and UHaul to get around. The coroner's office is shut down so bodies are being covered in leaves at best or left where they lie at worst.
They don't even know their own rules of engagement. He says the force is impotent right now. They have no idea what's going on, no coordination, virtually no comms, etc. the National Guard is gonna air drop a radio system for them with 200 radios? They are getting very little direction.
The 3rd District bugged out to Baton Rouge because they flooded out.
His quote: "It's a zoo."
-------------------
More from the Police Officer. I'm typing as fast as i can while he talks to us: He'sonly hearing bits and pieces. The people in the city are shooting at the police. They're upset that they're not getting help quickly enough.
The fireman keep calling because they're under fire. He doesn't understand why the people are shooting at the rescuers. Here it is 5 days ago the Mayor said get out of town and nobody went and now they're pissed.
The National Guard was at the Hilton, but now the Hilton is evacuated. When they said the CBD was gonna get 6 feet of water, it seems like everyone evacuated.
He turned the corner onto Canal Street and it looked like a flea market. People breaking into every store, going to the neutral ground (median) and trading and selling everything.
They broke into Winn Dixie Monday Night. Do they steal food? No. Cigarettes and liquor. Store was a mess. All the meats were going to waste so the districts went over there to salvage food for officers. Many cops have been eating MREs.
The Iberville Housing Projects got pissed off because the police started to "shop" after they kicked out looters. Then they started shooting at cops. When the cops left, the looters looted everything. There's probably not a grocery left in this city.
Over 30 officers have quit over the last 3 days. Out of 160 officers in his district maybe 55 or 60 are working. He hasn't seen several since Sunday. HQ is closed, evacuated. No phones to contact them.
"HQ, be advised, we're going 10 7."
"Ok, y'all coming back on???"
"We don't know."

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 'Y')ou have forgotten, or simply don't know. The term 'society' is a construct foisted upon us by the evil left. There is no such thing as a 'society.' In America, there is only a collection of 'individuals'. It's every man for himself, no matter what the preamble says. It's about 'I got mine' than 'We have ours'. There is no 'collective'. That is evil Marx incarnate, godless pinko commie rubbish that has no place in the U.S., by God!

[UIUCstudent01]

Is it possible the 'gunfire' is supposed to be a way to get attention?
I remember seeing a movie where someone shoots a flare AT a plane and then another character stops them from shooting a second one and he/she says something like, "No, you shoot away from the plane."
It seems VERY VERY stupid to shoot at a helicopter and possible hit the pilot and down the helicopter rescueing people.
It seems much more likely that they are trying to use it like a flare and get attention to themselves... some of them might be ignorant of the fact that guns don't actually attract the attention that they want..
Of course, some also might be malicious and stuff... It's FUBAR there it seems. I was doomer of 3, but now I'm pushing towards 4...

[falser]

I think the shooting at the helicopters and sniper fire is mass depression starting to set it. It will only get worse, basically anyone not at one of the shelters is going to be consumed in a city of utter lawlessness, and with dwindling food and water supplies. I don't really know what these looters are planning on doing with all their junk. I think fairly quickly they'll be looting primarily for food, and then when things get bad, they'll be fighting over eachothers remaining food, and when things get really bad, it'll become like a zombie movie, a mass meelee because the world will appear to be ending for them.

[Snowrunner]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Jack', 'D')efinitely - the optimists forget the true nature of human-kind.
New Orleans has descended into a Mad Max scenario - in 72 hours.

[Snowrunner]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Petro', 'S')orry but this will not get my vote. I'm not interested in a 'One World Government', run by the UN, where foreign, gun toting 'peace-keepers', come in and control American Citizens.

[Jack]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Macsporan', 'W')hy do Americans always behave like gangsters when the going gets tough?
Maybe you are doomed.
Died for want of Social Cohesion.

[advancedatheist]

I have to wonder if the Superdome shows us what happens when a disaster truncates society by removing the reasonably competent people and concentrating the dysfunctionals in one place. Chronically poor people tend to behave themselves during emergencies when they see their social betters taking charge of the situation and offering them tangible help -- something which clearly didn't happen in New Orleans.
By contrast, poor people in the UK and the U.S. fared reasonably well during the Second World War without using the social disruptions as opportunities for mischief because they got the same rations as everyone else and their respective governments made them feel valued.

[Snowrunner]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Macsporan', 'H')ave Americans lost the ability to maintain their own infrastructure? They couldn't repair the one in Iraq even before the Resistance got going.
By the look of it these guys couldn't organise the proverbial nookie in a brothel with a handful of hundred dollar bills...
It's hard to be an optimist sometimes.

[Snowrunner]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Jack', 'P')erhaps you're right. Maybe other nations - such as your own Australia - will do better at cooperation.
But, not meaning to be unkind...humankind seldom fails to live up to my expectations. The folks in NO are doing a fine job of meeting expectations. And, with the right motivation, I suspect other people in other nations could equal their performance...

[Snowrunner]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 'Y')ou have forgotten, or simply don't know. The term 'society' is a construct foisted upon us by the evil left. There is no such thing as a 'society.' In America, there is only a collection of 'individuals'. It's every man for himself, no matter what the preamble says. It's about 'I got mine' than 'We have ours'. There is no 'collective'. That is evil Marx incarnate, godless pinko commie rubbish that has no place in the U.S., by God!
[/speaking in tongues]

[Petro]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Snowrunner', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Macsporan', 'H')ave Americans lost the ability to maintain their own infrastructure? They couldn't repair the one in Iraq even before the Resistance got going.
By the look of it these guys couldn't organise the proverbial nookie in a brothel with a handful of hundred dollar bills...
It's hard to be an optimist sometimes.

[Snowrunner]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Petro', 's')hrug I don't have a gun...but it's my right to

[frankthetank]

Anyone thinking of moving

PO just got a hell of a lot scarier!

[Petro]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Snowrunner', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Petro', 's')hrug I don't have a gun...but it's my right to

[I_Like_Plants]

Blackout in Toronto was a little darkness, not 100+ degrees F temps, dehydration, everything you have in the world gone/under water.

[tokyo_to_motueka]

food, water, sanitation, shelter, security, transportation and communications wiped out is quite serious methinks.
but certain social setups seem more prone to ultra rapid breakdown and chaos than others.
my two cents worth:
the more socially divided (or the less socially cohesive) a place is to begin with, the quicker things slide into chaos.
you will always have a criminal element indulging in looting given the chance.
recent floods in NZ and earthquakes in Japan have proven that.
but it seems to me that such seemingly wide-scale problems as we're seeing in NO are significantly agrevated by the US-style socioeconomic setup in the first place.
and yes, it bodes badly for urban US post PO.
i think Euorope/Japan/NZ/Aust will fare better due to less disparity in economic outcomes.
then again, impoverished immigrant communities will need to be looked after properly...not abandoned by the wayside.

[Petro]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('tokyo_to_motueka', 'f')ood, water, sanitation, shelter, security, transportation and communications wiped out is quite serious methinks.
but certain social setups seem more prone to ultra rapid breakdown and chaos than others. ... but it seems to me that such seemingly wide-scale problems as we're seeing in NO are significantly agrevated by the US-style socioeconomic setup in the first place.
and yes, it bodes badly for urban US post PO.
i think Euorope/Japan/NZ/Aust will fare better due to less disparity in economic outcomes.