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Images From A Dark Detroit: "Major Cable Failure" Sparks Widespread Power Outage

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Just 15 months after Detroit's Black Out 2013 debacle, spokespeople for the city and DTE Energy confirmed at around 11:00 a.m. local time on Tuesday that most of Detroit’s municipal grid is offline:

  • *DETROIT CITES 'MAJOR CABLE FAILURE' FOR POWER OUTAGE
  • *DETROIT: OUTAGE IS AFFECTING ALL CUSTOMERS ON THE PLD GRID

The outage is preventing power from being delivered to police stations, schools, traffic lights and other city-run facilities and services.

According to Detroit Press Office shortly before noon:

"The city's public lighting grid suffered a major cable failure that has caused the entire grid to lose power at approximately 10:30 this morning. The outage is affecting all customers on the PLD grid. We have isolated the issue and are working to restore power as soon as possible."

 

As RT reports,

“It looks like the entire Detroit Public Lighting system is down. Affecting about 100 buildings, places like The Joe, Frank Murphy Hall of Justice, fire stations, schools.

 

We were notified about 10:30 a.m. We’re working with them to help resolve the situation. We’ll help investigate the problem and make repairs. It’s too early yet to determine what has caused the shutdown,” Scott Simons of DTE Energy Co. told the Detroit News.

Evacuations have begun across the city:

 

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Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:15 | 5508972 ZippyBananaPants
ZippyBananaPants's picture

We failed some folks

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:18 | 5508982 Pig Circus
Pig Circus's picture

Coming soon to a city near you. It's 10 degree's in the Twin Cities right now. I would be phucked.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:21 | 5508994 Stuck on Zero
Stuck on Zero's picture

... preventing power from being delivered to police stations, schools, traffic lights and other city-run facilities and services

Is there something wrong with this? 

 

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:22 | 5508997 Latina Lover
Latina Lover's picture

this is what happens when copper cable is stolen to pay for crack habits.

Time to light up the neighborhood.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:26 | 5509022 SWRichmond
SWRichmond's picture

This is what happens when your country is slowly being converted to "third world" status by ravenous banksters and corrupt, greedy politicians.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:31 | 5509048 Headbanger
Headbanger's picture

What is this "Detroit" thing anyway? 

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:32 | 5509060 pods
pods's picture

"Meat's back on the menu boys!"

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:36 | 5509084 0b1knob
0b1knob's picture

In Soviet America, lights turn you off!

Jackoff Smirnoff

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:40 | 5509100 Bunghole
Bunghole's picture

Send in Plisken

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:41 | 5509106 Anusocracy
Anusocracy's picture

"What is this "Detroit" thing anyway? "

The world's largest open-air zoo.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:46 | 5509129 redpill
redpill's picture

Cue the looting in 3...2...1...

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:49 | 5509145 Government need...
Government needs you to pay taxes's picture

Give a hoot, try not to loot!

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:54 | 5509167 TeamDepends
TeamDepends's picture

Pants up or freeze your nads.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:54 | 5509179 Troll Magnet
Troll Magnet's picture

Hands up, DON'T LOOT, BITCHES!

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:57 | 5509189 Dostojevskij
Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:02 | 5509207 BaBaBouy
BaBaBouy's picture

Heard A Big "Protest" Convoy From Fergussen Headed Thier Way For The Night Shift...

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:10 | 5509247 TruthInSunshine
TruthInSunshine's picture

"Some folks have no electricity, and some folks can't pay their water bills."

#HandsUpDon'tLoot

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:13 | 5509270 MiguelitoRaton
MiguelitoRaton's picture

Just in time for Christmas "Shopping" #lootwoot #shoptilyouredropped

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:15 | 5509279 MiguelitoRaton
MiguelitoRaton's picture

No need to civilians to have guns, the police will defend you and your property, you know like they did in Ferguson #2ndamendment

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 15:07 | 5509609 Four chan
Four chan's picture

lots of comments from people who dont live here.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 15:11 | 5509638 venturen
venturen's picture

take that picture away I can't hear you.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:03 | 5509897 J S Bach
J S Bach's picture

So what's the big deal... Detroit's been "dark" for a long time.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 18:32 | 5510533 TBT or not TBT
TBT or not TBT's picture

Dude, please.   "Chocolate city" has been the preferred nomenclature since Katrina.  /Walter Sobchak mode

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 20:32 | 5510841 drdolittle
drdolittle's picture

That's racist!

For real though ,us boys in Lexington, KY would sometimes say about a particular establishment, "It's time to leave boys. It's getting kinda dark in here"

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 20:44 | 5510880 mjcOH1
mjcOH1's picture

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2014/12/02/powe...

Only the city owned/run Public Lighting Dept grid was affected.   The DTE (evil corporate) grid was not affected.   Again.

Luckily the city keeps its own buildings on the PLD/city grid, while the the people who actually need electricity are free to pay 'the man' and get the juice.

Forward, comrades!

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:07 | 5509913 TheReplacement
TheReplacement's picture

What!?  I can't hear you over the sound of her tits.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 17:10 | 5510201 espirit
espirit's picture

Boris must have taken his copper mining enterprise to Detroit.

Either that, or public employees are being paid by 'the foot'. 

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:02 | 5509209 Troll Magnet
Troll Magnet's picture

Fuck that Armstrong nigga, man!  We the United States of America, nigga!  We EXCEPTIONAL!

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:11 | 5509264 TeamDepends
TeamDepends's picture

Fight the power (outage)!

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 17:35 | 5510305 Bindar Dundat
Bindar Dundat's picture

  Get your X-Mass looting in early so the insurance companies can help save the shopping season....

Black  Friday followed by looting Tuesday.....could be a keeper.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:50 | 5509491 Aussie V
Aussie V's picture

@TeamDepends

"Go Nads, Go GoNads!"

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:40 | 5509423 Againstthelie
Againstthelie's picture

You mean we will have another real multicultural paradise instead of the Jewish Hollywood false propaganda in action soon?

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 15:52 | 5509850 zuuma
zuuma's picture

nice pics.

is detroit part of africa?

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:22 | 5509928 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

Dem colored folks mos like ta skeer me ta def!

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:47 | 5509135 pods
pods's picture

My guess is that this did not happen from trying to process all the overdue payments for water service.

pods

 

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:48 | 5509140 linniepar
linniepar's picture

Dry run, bitchez!

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:51 | 5509509 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

"What is this "Detroit" thing anyway? "

A resource for the TBTF to mine until no viable value exists.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:38 | 5510058 Renewable Life
Renewable Life's picture

Better get those bitchez back on soon, or they'll be lighting fires to stay warm:)

First the water, now the power, lol

15 degrees might not be so funny about 10pm though, government help me, ohhh wait, they need power too???

Cue the panicked screaming and crying and Sharpton is booking a flight as we speak!!

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:31 | 5509049 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

Good.  Leave them out.

  DC and New York too.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:53 | 5509164 max2205
max2205's picture

Unleash the White Cops!

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:10 | 5509937 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

They've been leashed?

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:32 | 5509061 SelfGov
SelfGov's picture

Nooooo...

This is what happens when you design a system to run on ever increasing amounts of fossil fuels and then that fuel begins to get expensive (read: depleted).

Peak oil...

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:47 | 5509128 Arnold
Arnold's picture

Yeah, I get all my news and opinion from RT too, so much moar informative and certainly less biased.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:16 | 5509293 MiguelitoRaton
MiguelitoRaton's picture

Yeah fossil fuel prices are shooting up through the...oh, wait, never mind

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 15:31 | 5509736 SelfGov
SelfGov's picture

Yeah they shot up like mad just after conventional crude production peaked.

Now prices are falling due to cratering demand which will result in lower oil production. 

That is how we begin falling down the far side of Hubbert's Peak.

 

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 15:47 | 5509821 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

Hubbert's curve had the assumption built into it that some other source of energy would be coming online to take the place of oil.  Since that doesn't seem to be happening on a scale anywhere near big enough, the dropoff will be much more sudden than Hubbert predicted.  This is because oil is a keystone commodity to our ponzi economy which must grow or die. 

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:06 | 5509906 SelfGov
SelfGov's picture

Oh my god did I say, "Hubbert's Peak?"

You're right. I should have said, "Seneca's Cliff."

 

Good catch. :)

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:24 | 5509328 ebear
ebear's picture

No, this is what happens when you don't maintain and upgrade your infrastructure.

Expect to see this in other major cities - a direct result of shrinking tax base and underfunded budgets.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 15:08 | 5509577 SelfGov
SelfGov's picture

A shrinking tax base and underfunded budgets (and money printing) and most everything ZeroHedge* publishes are all symptoms of resource depletion, population overshoot and environmental destruction predicted very neatly by the Limits to Growth paper published years ago.

All things start and stop with physics.

*There is a biophysical reason behind the fact that ZeroHedge didn't become a, "thing," until after conventional crude production peaked globally. :)

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 15:36 | 5509767 Hippocratic Oaf
Hippocratic Oaf's picture

"population overshoot"?

Perhaps you could find a self-inflicted way to reduce that number by one?

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:00 | 5509884 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

In the event of population overshoot, mother nature proves to be very effective at reducing the population.  Either we are overpopulated, or we aren't.  That is not a moral statement, nor is it a judgment that any given person should die.  Say we are, and if you take fossil fuels away, you will find that we are without them, is that an argument that you or I should kill ourselves?  Is that an argument for something like eugenics?  No, it is not.  It is a mere statement that if you take fossil fuels away, there will not be enough resources for everybody.  It is a statement that life will get ugly under those circumstances.    Again, mother nature will be every bit as cruel as people can be, if not worse.  Think about how you would survive if you couldn't go to a supermarket and buy food, a clothing store and buy clothes, turn the thermostat and warm your house on a freezing winter day.  You have a small farm and a wood burning stove?  If so, good for you, but that would put you by far in the minority. 

 

No matter the morally repugnant ideas that population overshoot brings up in your mind, you really should consider the consequences of a sudden and drastic reduction in the immediate carrying capacity of the planet.  Your survival may depend on it. 

 

Saying "you first" to people who bring up overpopulation is nothing more than a knee jerk reaction that comes from having lived through the most prosperous times in human history.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:18 | 5509969 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

 

 

"Expect to see this in other major cities - a direct result of shrinking tax base and underfunded budgets."

 

How about a direct result of unrealistic levels of spending which of course leads to to a shrinking tax base as the citizenry shrugs.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 17:16 | 5510232 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

"Civilization" as we know it, might just be the mother of all failed government programs.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:25 | 5509340 29.5
29.5's picture

Yeah, it's probably all those Volts plugged into outlets causing power spikes.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 15:38 | 5509770 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

In the big picture you are correct, peak everything. In the short term, this is an inappropriate application of the frame. 

Globalization took Detroit jobs overseas. That took the tax base. That took the funds for upkeep. Broke back accountin'. And there you have it, short to midterm.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:03 | 5509891 hot sauce technician
hot sauce technician's picture

>>>Globalization took Detroit jobs overseas. 

Uh not quite. Detroit lost jobs BC it couldn't compete with the Japanese or Europeans (I.e. Germans)...You want a reasonably priced mid tier vehicle? Buy Japanese or Korean. A  luxury sedan or sports car? You buy German.

Something with some semblance of a free market still exists and the whole globalization argument is just neomarxist tripe. Global trade in fact has existed for ~3500 years, to the benefit of parties involved.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:35 | 5510039 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

From what I understand there have been tarrifs on our cars being sold over there, but none on their cars sold over here. The labor costs being lower are not a clean issue on either side of the ocean. We have labor unions gunking up the works (adding to the cost of labor), they have more exploitative labor policies at work making that "cheaper" thing happen. My point back to you is there is less "free market" functioning in this example than you are supposing.

I come from the position that if markets were really free, most things would be produced and sold locally. Something is pretty fucked up and unnatural when the salad and the car is cheaper when it comes from 5,000 miles away. That is the tell that there is a horrible imbalance somewhere.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 17:56 | 5510387 FrankDrakman
FrankDrakman's picture

I come from the position that if markets were really free, most things would be produced and sold locally. Something is pretty fucked up and unnatural when the salad and the car is cheaper when it comes from 5,000 miles away. That is the tell that there is a horrible imbalance somewhere.

Sorry, wrong again. I read an article a while ago that said the three things that made globalization possible were, in order of importance:

  1. Container Ships
  2. The internet/cheap computing
  3. Cheap fibre optic telecoms

The container ships made it possible to get past the longshoremen without the 'shrinkage', and time stuck on the docks. The internet made it possible to tie it all together (ordering, shipping, tracking, just-in-time scheduling), and cheap fibre made it reasonable to keep in touch to solve problems. (I worked in telecom; in the early 80's, a call from Toronto to New York City was over $1/minute; calls to London, England were more than $5/min). All of these combined to make a distributed organization not only workable, but able to deliver products from overseas less expensively than they could be made at home. 

Shipping costs aren't that much. A container from China to the US is about $2,000, and holds about 20 tons, so shipping is only about $0.05/pound. That's why they can ship apples from S. Africa to NYC for less than moving them from upstate NY. 

I understand your dismay and disbelief, but I'm an engineer, and when you run the numbers, the logic is inescapable. 


Tue, 12/02/2014 - 20:23 | 5510818 hot sauce technician
hot sauce technician's picture

Toyota learned how to play nicely with the tariffs and therefore 'insourced' certain parts of the production process US - it had/has a huge assembling plant in one of the Carolinas I believe. We're talking thousands of american jobs. Look it up, I actually read an artocle in Newsweek about it at the time :-)  (I even remember on which toilet I was sitting on whilst reading the article, but I digress.)

Look, you're saying it yourself - paying union thugs to keep workers placated is a production cost of manufacturing US vehicles. If the Koreans can keep their workers happier under lower pay, then more power to them. Adam smith himself said that each laborer occupies himself with what he's best at doing. If we suck at making cars, then so be it. We won't make cars but will rather export movies and miley Cyrus to the world in exchange for their cars. It's all beautiful.

>>>I come from the position that if markets were really free, most things would be produced and sold locally. 

Check your premises again. Global trade has been around for millennia. I repeat, millennia. Timber and grain from Russia were exchanged for iron tools and leather from western Europe in the middle ages, among many other things which I can't rermember right now; the silk road; the hejaz; Mecca, the pre Islamic trading hub; African ivory excavated in levantine palaces; Sidonian wool worn by achaeans as documented by the Greeks themselves. We can go on and on. This whole 'local production' movement has gotten completely out of hand. Only hunter gatherers live %100 locally. Anything else is just a neomarxist scam aimed at creating obfuscation and thence generate 'sympathy' I.e. money for locals who can't compete globally in a certain line of work.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:53 | 5510129 overmedicatedun...
overmedicatedundersexed's picture

hot sauce, you kinda have missed the point..trade has been around almost as long as gold is money. the problem is not trade. the problem is moving production 1000 of miles from where it is consumed because of regulatory ,tax and labor cost advantage..once in america you would be buying from 4 or 5 major car producers perhaps a better car was made in japan or germany, but with low unemployment and high wages - we all were better for it, and those who wanted that german car could afford to buy it tariff and all.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 20:33 | 5510849 hot sauce technician
hot sauce technician's picture

Oh, I fully agree that markets are distorted and economies are skewed due to the current supremacy of fiat (and by extension the use of instruments easily integrated into the fiat system - taxes and regulations). My point is, these exist in other industries yet the US has no challenge remaining super competitive therein. The National Basketball Association is a very good example of one such 'manufacturer'.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:30 | 5510027 SWRichmond
SWRichmond's picture

Globalization took Detroit jobs overseas. That took the tax base. That took the funds for upkeep. Broke back accountin'. And there you have it, short to midterm.

Yes, well, what drove Globalization?  Has the regulatory state got anything to do with it?  Has the tax code and wealth redistribution got anything to do with it?  Has banking got anything to do with it?  Have politicians, working for banksters, been the driving force behind it?  Has the griding and seemingly inexorable advance of socialism and socialist thinking in the US got anything to do with it?  Who is responsible for that?  Who keeps telling Americans they are exceptional (and thus don't need to live in the real world)?  Who keeps telling Americans we can afford all of this shit which we obviously can't, without $Trillion deficits?

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:36 | 5510057 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

I totally agree, you said it better, but see my answer above. "Intervention" is the problem. 

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 17:43 | 5510332 SelfGov
SelfGov's picture

Resource depletion has a lot to do with it to. :)

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 17:40 | 5510320 FrankDrakman
FrankDrakman's picture

Globalization took Detroit jobs overseas. That took the tax base.

Oh, please. Detroit's population peaked in the early 50's but started to decline after Brown vs. Board of Education. The decline really got going in the 1960's, especially after the '67 riots. By the mid-70's, hardly any white people lived in Detroit proper. That's where the tax base went.

None of it was helped by the crooks in the Coleman Young administrations that followed. The chief and deputy chief of police were each convicted of stealing over $1 million from police funds. They were the highest profile cases, but if the big fish are playing at that level, you can be pretty sure the corruption was endemic. 

By the time 'globalization' arrived, Detroit was already broke. Like any large entity, it doesn't fail all at once, but in a series of arcs, with enough respites to make fools believe that it's coming back. 

It's coming back alright - as farmland. 

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 21:14 | 5510972 countryboy42
countryboy42's picture

It's coming back alright - as farmland.

I see it as a good military training ground. Let the Air Force, and the Navy bomb the snot out of it, then let the Marines, and Army go practice in it.

Third world training without leaving the country.

Advanced training available in Camden, NJ. Actually, I'm thinking of setting up hunting trips there. The most dangerous game. That would make the surrounding economy boom. Hotels, arms sales, supplies, etc.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 17:42 | 5510328 SelfGov
SelfGov's picture

The frame I'm creating has to do with addiction to oil to varying degrees.

Peak oil is merely the fact that makes that frame relavent. Detroit's demise started in the 40's when oil prices more than doubled in that 10 year period of time. That led to Peak Detroit in most senses of the word.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:34 | 5509382 duo
duo's picture

A few years back in Detroit a certain individual decided he was going to "get me some electricity" and climbed up a power pole with some jumper cables and an extension cord.  He ended up blowing up a transformer and was literally burned to a crisp up on the pole.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:53 | 5509513 RafterManFMJ
RafterManFMJ's picture

Silly teens.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:53 | 5509522 duo
duo's picture

IIRC, he was in his 40s or 50s

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 17:34 | 5510293 marathonman
marathonman's picture

You always got to respect AC power especially at 120 volts or greater.  And most pole power is much greater than 120....  Poor fool probably tried to get on the upstream side of the transformer and hooked into real source power.  Sometimes the five finger discount just ain't worth it.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:46 | 5509477 Againstthelie
Againstthelie's picture

Politics follows biology.

3rd world populace -> 3rd world country.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 15:06 | 5509602 Freddie
Freddie's picture

Genius in it's simplicity.   So true.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:46 | 5510093 alangreedspank
alangreedspank's picture

Right. Nothing special about Detriot, it's just an african city, ie: Johannesburg.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:20 | 5509978 Ruffmuff
Ruffmuff's picture

Fuck I knew I forgot something, to pay the electric bill.

Losing power in the winter sucks and is kinda cold.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:27 | 5509036 pods
pods's picture

I can understand this might be news. But "evacuations?"  From the just-us building?

Okay everybody, please walk outside.  Done.

Wait till something REALLY happens.  Amerikans will be crying from their collective vaginas.

pods

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:51 | 5509155 TBT or not TBT
TBT or not TBT's picture

Like an EMP attack, or a Coronal Mass Ejection. 

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:57 | 5509192 pods
pods's picture

I once hit a chick with a Coronal Mass Ejection.  She was NOT happy.  That shit is tough to get out.

pods

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:15 | 5509280 TeamDepends
TeamDepends's picture

It's all fun and games 'til someone loses an eye.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:22 | 5509311 Ahoy Polloi
Ahoy Polloi's picture

iJACKING of threads will not be tolerated

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:41 | 5509435 gatorengineer
gatorengineer's picture

what do you think caused the coronal mass ejection

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:56 | 5509534 RafterManFMJ
RafterManFMJ's picture

For me, Mexican food always leads to colonal mass ejection. Had to JB weld the toilet back together.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 15:03 | 5509589 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

I knew this thread would be worth reading.  And it is.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 15:27 | 5509722 Ahoy Polloi
Ahoy Polloi's picture

Don't you stop

Don't you wonder why

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_A8Xe9M0NY

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 17:02 | 5510162 Ahoy Polloi
Ahoy Polloi's picture

No Stairway... DENIED!

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:30 | 5509039 smithcreek
smithcreek's picture

If you've never checked out satellite images of Detroit click the link.  Whole blocks empty.  Half of what's left standing is only there because it costs too much to knock down.

http://mapq.st/1yDB1mV

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:40 | 5509095 SilverDOG
SilverDOG's picture

Good god. 

Now, do not let the folks see that !

 

 

 

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:49 | 5509141 pods
pods's picture

And close to an MLK Blvd too.

Shocked I tell you.

pods

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:45 | 5509463 TruthInSunshine
TruthInSunshine's picture

It's a present day symbol of Krugmanomics.

The city borrowed more than it could ever hope to repay, throwing concerns of fiscal ability to the wind.

Krugman's wet dream.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:22 | 5509984 Ruffmuff
Ruffmuff's picture

We have to burn the crack houses for heat around here.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:41 | 5510072 redpill
redpill's picture

Quick, break some windows, that'll fix it!

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:54 | 5509182 Freddie
Freddie's picture

It is returning to prarie.  This is the best alternative.   It is a failed city. The RINO and Democrats gov wants to turn it into a Chinese city.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:17 | 5509298 NuckingFuts
NuckingFuts's picture

I am sure conservative republicans could have fixed it up good as new.  /sarc/

 

why not just say "the politicians want to turn it into a Chinese city"

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:14 | 5509936 zuuma
zuuma's picture

All the conservative republicans left Afro-Detroitica years ago.

Actually, they were thrown out by da peeples.

Now they run all the suburbs & are enjoying heat, power, tidy neighborhoods, minimal crime, decent schools, good roads, etc.

/sarc

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:03 | 5509214 BandGap
BandGap's picture

Actually, a large part of the city budget is towards knocking buildings down. I went to college with the mayor, knew him from the dormitory. Good guy.

I drove a delivery truck in Detroit for a summer back in 1982, too. It was still somewhat vibrant. Can't believe some of these images. Not that it was ever a vacation hotspot.

And the "Coleman Young" building? WTF? That asshole drained the city as much as anyone. A monument to the absurd.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:03 | 5509218 madcows
madcows's picture

You can buy those lots for a few grand a piece.  But, no one wants them.  Why?  B/c they know the government is corrupt and will tax them into poverty.  Oh, and no businesses want to locate there b/c the citizens all belong to the FSA.  They don't want to work.  They want their free shit.  Que the looting.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:11 | 5509750 TruthInSunshine
TruthInSunshine's picture

Homeowners in Detroit can buy adjacent empty lots for $1 from the city.

There are 75,000 vacant lots/homes being auctioned off this coming spring, for starters. 98% of them will not be bid on, sold for $1, etc.

And that's just the start. There's probably a backlog of 5x that number of properties in default on deck that the city will be trying to auction off after that.

I know this because a client of mine is considered investing in some sort of urban farming (after land clearing/banking) non-profit operation there, next to an existing non-profit tree farm operation undertaken two years ago (on land where 5500 homes once stood, I believe).

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:35 | 5509396 duo
duo's picture

funny, but half of that devistation has happened since Obama took office.  Winning!

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 15:26 | 5509715 EINSILVERGUY
EINSILVERGUY's picture

Yep,

Look at MLK, speaking of which, has there ever been an area named after him that wasn't the most dangerous place to be. Even in Austin its not a place you want to pitch a tent.

Spent 6 months in Detroit in 1988. Worked downtown and lived in Birmingham.

I had to pay $50 out of each paycheck for the privilige of working in the city. 

It was a shithole then, its a shithole now. 

 

 

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:29 | 5509044 Theta_Burn
Theta_Burn's picture

Now that there is no power in those lines, the copper theft will go up 100 fold..

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:40 | 5509094 LFMayor
LFMayor's picture

I'm thinking wait for about an hour, then kick the breaker back on.  Worlds largest bug-zapper.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:04 | 5509229 centerline
centerline's picture

Then off again for an hour, then back on... repeat at random intervals for awhile. 

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:40 | 5509432 Disc Jockey
Disc Jockey's picture

And they say ZH offers no solutions to the problems of our day! :) 

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 19:59 | 5510779 TBT or not TBT
TBT or not TBT's picture

Well, Margaret Sanger's Planned Parenthood has been on this for the best part of century and as a result we are 16% black rather than 36%.   Democrats increased the -intensity- of the suck in our poor areas via their 20 trillion dollar(and rapidly Counting) war on poverty, but at the same time prevented tens of millions of blacks lives being ruined by it, by killing them in utero.  They really don't care about results, of course.  Their intentions on the other hand they can't shut up about.   

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:19 | 5509305 Antifaschistische
Antifaschistische's picture

I like the "Detroit Math" on "900 students"......priceless.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:21 | 5509003 Haus-Targaryen
Haus-Targaryen's picture

No public services in Detroit.  

How is this news?   

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:23 | 5509017 Latina Lover
Latina Lover's picture

It is news when power to the cops is cut off. How are they supposed to keep the inmates under control?

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:27 | 5509031 jcaz
jcaz's picture

"Take It Home Fo' Free" Tuesday should go a lil better than "Cyber" Monday......

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:54 | 5509171 firstdivision
firstdivision's picture

without power, the cells cannot be opened.  I'm heat broken.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:46 | 5509134 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

The gun and badge thugs won't be able to coordinate their brutality or cover stories.

Damn shame.   /s

An American, not US subject.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:22 | 5508995 Latina Lover
Latina Lover's picture

Imagine the riots if the TV cable was stolen.  

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:50 | 5509492 Budd aka Sidewinder
Budd aka Sidewinder's picture

Super Hairy Rob Lowe was right.....Cable does suck

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:22 | 5509014 pods
pods's picture

Looks like a huge traffic jam at Woodward and Jefferson. lulz.

There is more traffic at the light closest to my house.

pods

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:27 | 5509032 TheFourthStooge-ing
TheFourthStooge-ing's picture

Black Tuesday Sale!

All you can carry for free!

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:56 | 5509181 Government need...
Government needs you to pay taxes's picture

Yo, itbeeda 5-finger discount, fo as long asda lightsbeeout.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:27 | 5510010 Ruffmuff
Ruffmuff's picture

Who axed yo opinion?

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:56 | 5509184 Jack's Digestib...
Jack's Digestible Ideas's picture

Das rayciss!

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:28 | 5509351 seek
seek's picture

Anytime you think something like this and it ends with "I would be phucked," it's a wake-up call to prepare for it.

Generators and backup propane tanks to run them and heat the house aren't that expensive. A lock and chain and an AR to keep it from walking away would be a good start as well.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:47 | 5510100 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

True, when we went through Cali's largest wildfire and were without power for three weeks, it was a definite wake up call. Our goal is 100% off grid capability which has been extremely expensive to pull off. I thought it odd the engineer who is designing our system did happen to mention the danger in doing so. He said he always warns people about this when they go down this path because they fail to see what could happen in a societal breakdown scenario. He was relieved to see this wasn't an issue for us but said all the city clients he had were completely clueless to what he was saying and were not adequately prepared for this. We are hoping those individuals will be our decoys.

Miffed

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:33 | 5509372 ajax
ajax's picture

 

 

Stay warm - Burn a building

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:42 | 5509449 Calmyourself
Calmyourself's picture

If you do not have a backup in the twin cities you are well and truly screwed.  If your not a stupid commie who voted AL, try this:http://tinyurl.com/o86m2rd

These work great and will heat an entire house, ten gallons of fuel and your good for some time. No smell no fuss.  If you voted for AL freeze in the dark numb nuts..

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:54 | 5509531 Overfed
Overfed's picture

Go propane. Cheaper for the heater, and cheaper for the fuel.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 15:20 | 5509679 Calmyourself
Calmyourself's picture

Does not run as long and to put out the same BTUS requires forced air, I am wrong lets see it?

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:29 | 5510013 pods
pods's picture

This is what we have. Much nicer than the kerosene heater we had.  Been running one as a supplement to heat pump for 4 years. 

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200362091_200362091

To each his own though. Kerosene was a PIA for me.  Had to keep gallons onsite for emergencies and never would think of using the heater as a secondary heat source.
This propane heater serves both purposes.  

pods 

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 17:16 | 5510230 Calmyourself
Calmyourself's picture

I find myself corrected, thank you

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 17:23 | 5510256 pods
pods's picture

No correction needed.  We had the kerosene for emergency too.

You can add a blower (electric) but seems to do fine without it.

Kerosene is also portable. 

pods

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 15:11 | 5509633 tarabel
tarabel's picture

 

 

We were the first American distributor in our area for a competitor in the way back.

One ironclad rule: kerosene only. Use diesel 1 and you WILL be painting the entire inside of your house.

Second ironclad rule: Find a bulk petroleum distributor in your area that sells kerosene out of a gas pump. The prices at the stores for a 5-gal can of the stuff is ridiculolus-- like $10 a gallon ridiculous.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 15:26 | 5509705 Calmyourself
Calmyourself's picture

Both a must. Fleet farm in the Twin Cities sells it out of the pump and inside the store for 200% more..  These things will heat your house in an emergency for a good long time.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 16:18 | 5509971 RallyRoundTheFamily
RallyRoundTheFamily's picture

Nice  TY

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:19 | 5508993 Syrin
Syrin's picture

If living in Baltimore is worse than living in Nigeria, what is living in Detroit like?

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:22 | 5509012 NoVa
NoVa's picture

I really don't like complicated riddles - just tell us the answer.

 

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:29 | 5509042 Meat Hammer
Meat Hammer's picture

I went to a game at Comerica Park a few years back.  I remember stepping out onto the concourse to have a smoke and looking out at the neighborhoods surrounding downtown.  The only way I could've made what I saw look better is if I had jammed the lit end of the cigarette into each of my eyes.

Does that help?

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:33 | 5509063 Bunghole
Bunghole's picture

Scooby Doo ghost town

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:44 | 5509116 SilverDOG
SilverDOG's picture

Bwwaaaaaahh haaaaa haaaaa !

 

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:07 | 5509243 alrightee_then
alrightee_then's picture

I lived in Michigan when Comerica Park was put up

What's unknown by most Americans is Detroit was a true world-class city in the early 20th century. Famous for its trees and buildings.

GM got the trolley cars removed then corrupt city Government along with an apethetic citizenry killed it

 

Amerikan Communism at its finest

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:13 | 5509278 Tsar Pointless
Tsar Pointless's picture

Incorrect word choice. I think the term you wanted was "fascism". Go learn the difference. And, YES, there IS a difference.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 15:36 | 5509765 Nick Jihad
Nick Jihad's picture

Yes, the difference is that communism has a much higher body count. Credit where credit is due.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:37 | 5509401 ajax
ajax's picture

 

 

"Amerikan Communism at its finest"

Nope. The streetcars were "communist" ... not even communist, more like socialist and I'd rather live in a city with streetcars (public transport) than one choking on private transportation.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:11 | 5509260 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

In 1998 I traveled by train to Detroit from Chicago.

I left my "bang-bang" at home, as I did not know if Amtrak used metal detectors. So I was defenseless.

I knew the ghettos of Chicago pretty well, and they weren't too bad, so I figured, "How bad could Detroit be?"

Got off the train in Dearborn, I think. Did some business, and then boarded a bus for downtown. I rode the bus often in Chicago, "How bad could Detroit be?"

After about 10 or 15 minutes of riding along, I realized that ALL had changed. There were nothing but hardcore niggers on the bus, and a scene of desolation out the windows. I found myself clutching myself where my "bang-bang" should have been, feeling stupid for leaving it behind. I was trapped, as I couldn't get off and I didn't want to stay on.

Adding to the anxiety was the fact that I knew the animals around me could smell fear a mile away. Therefore I had to maintain my composure of calm, while I stared out the windows at the desolation. I felt like a Buddha in a nightmare.

I made it fine to downtown, all was well, but I have never been in a situation so full of anxiety in my life. Completely stupid of me.

Anyways, I went to John King books the next day, and then used a taxi to get to the train station and home.

When I got home, some colleagues asked if I thought Detroit, "Would be coming back?" I just laughed.

An American, not US subject.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:59 | 5509559 Government need...
Government needs you to pay taxes's picture

When you enter a warzone, always remember there is no rule of law unless you can impose it yourself.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 15:05 | 5509585 Monty Burns
Monty Burns's picture

Tacitus said 'the people are the city'.  And when the people are black the city will be like one in Africa. Billions of man- hours and trillions of dollars have been utterly wasted through failing to acknowledge this simple truth.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 15:12 | 5509641 Government need...
Government needs you to pay taxes's picture

Back when our nation had more sense, we tried returning them to the wild.  The Liberian experiment succeeded.  Look at how quickly they returned to their spear-chuckin', cannibalizing, raping roots!

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 15:19 | 5509672 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

The blacks of the American country are just a caged canary in the DC US coalmine, police-state.

Pay special attention to their plight, as it will soon be ours.

An American, not US subject.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 15:15 | 5509657 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

While I appreciate you well informed opinion, never forget that the banksters, and their governmnet puppets, stole from us, via taxes and "printing," the trillions spent on the blacks of Detroit.

The banksters stole the industries that Detroit depended on by way of fraudulent-reserve banking and "printing," and governmnet subsidized them.

The whole thing, as all government actions are, is a racket to enrich the pols, crats, and banksters.

An American, not US subject.

 

"Make the world a better place, guillotine a pol, crat, func, and/or bankster."

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:23 | 5509005 Theta_Burn
Theta_Burn's picture

Public entities all have nat gas gen back-up power..

Public employees will still be paid, with next to no impact on what ever they do when the lights are on..

I wonder what the over/under is %wise on how much of that power is subsidized..

Brilliant way to fudge some budget numbers..

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 13:59 | 5509198 takeaction
takeaction's picture

I think dis is a great opodunity to grabs some free shits.  Al of us's can blames its on de Fergusen more.  Come ons cuz...drop dat 40...free shits awaitn.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:09 | 5509246 HedgeHammer
HedgeHammer's picture

Failed for sure! Since when do people NEED to be evacuated from a city due to a power outage! Evacuate now I have lost all hope for my fellow man.

 

 

Be real easy to sneak some boom boom sticks in while the city is evacuated.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:14 | 5509275 SAT 800
SAT 800's picture

The real news, of course, is that neither the Police Dept. or the Schools functioned correctly, yesterday either.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 14:26 | 5509335 Jumbotron
Jumbotron's picture

I hear they have quite the number of abandoned houses.  Light 'em up !   Folks get warm.....and the blight goes away.

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