Look out

Here comes Maria:

Two weeks ago, Puerto Rico was spared a devastating hit when Hurricane Irma ripped up the Caribbean. This time, it may not be so lucky.

The bankrupt island, already contending with the aftermath of a storm that left as much as $1 billion of damage and hundreds of thousands still without power, faces even more upheaval with Hurricane Maria set to hit as soon as Tuesday night. The government ordered rationing of basic necessities, including water and batteries, although those items were already gone from some San Juan store shelves as residents prepared for what could be the worst storm for the U.S. territory in decades.

Maria is not messing around, either:

The Caribbean island nation of Dominica sustained “mind boggling” damage from Hurricane Maria, its prime minister said on Tuesday, after the storm hit with maximum sustained winds of nearly 160 miles per hour that ripped roofs off buildings, including his own home.

There was no immediate word of deaths or injuries on the island from Maria, the third in a string of devastating hurricanes to sweep through the region in recent weeks.

The National Hurricane Center said just after 5 a.m. that the storm, now moving away from Dominica, had regained Category 5 strength, after briefly dropping to Category 4. It is expected to remain “extremely dangerous” as it approaches the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on Tuesday night and Wednesday, the center said.

Roosevelt Skerrit, Dominica’s prime minister, wrote on Facebook earlier Tuesday that the island nation of 72,000 had experienced “widespread devastation,” based on initial reports.

Maria may stay away from Florida, however:

Stay away

Hoping things don't get any worse for Puerto Rico, as they have problems enough these days, but it doesn't look good.

Bullets

Not even a lightning round, just random thoughts. It's been busy.

• Hurricane Irma has been largely as advertised. It will be a while before we're able to determine what the aftermath really is, but given the amount of looting that already seems to be taking place, it's likely to be far more disturbing story than what the narrative seemed to be coming out of Houston after Harvey's rampage.
• Spent most of the weekend away from the news, as it was time to send the Benster back for his final year of college. We've made the trip south many times in the past few years and we'll be making a different trip next year, once Fearless Maria picks her school.
• I'm really enjoying the rollout of the Hillary Clinton book. She's not taking things well.
• Packers 17, Seabags 9. Not the score we expected, but a satisfying result.
• I think the NFL has some real issues ahead. Forget the National Anthem, which in the end is really a non-issue. Injuries are a big story this year already. David Johnson may be out multiple weeks for the Cardinals, and Allen Robinson is done for the year already. It's become even more of a war of attrition and in the end, no one really enjoys that.

Frankie MacDonald is on the case

In case you were wondering about the snowstorm tomorrow:

The best weatherman out there.

Lightning Round -- 122815

Random thoughts from a holiday weekend:

• I was going to complain about the snow we're going to get today, but then I saw what happened in Texas from this same storm. We have snowplows and the know-how to dig out from snowstorms, but a tornado is another matter entirely.
• We saw the new Star Wars movie over the weekend. Is it Great Art? Of course not, but it's a good popcorn movie and it hits most of the right notes for rebooting the franchise. I didn't bother with the Star Wars movies that came out around 2000 and from what I've been told, I didn't miss much. I'm irritated with Goth Vader, a/k/a Kilo Kylo Ren, the new bad guy, who is more hamdinger than Hamlet, but the rest is good clean fun. You can never go back to 1977, but the new movie is worth a look, especially at a matinee price. 
• Yes, I know the Packers played a miserably bad game yesterday. I don't think they're that good this year, but I reject the idea that it's time to clean house. The Vikings are coming on, though, and they're going to be a problem for the next few years.
• I don't know when we started looking to Al-Jazeera for sports coverage, but the reporting they are offering concerning Peyton Manning using Human Growth Hormone seems to be falling apart. I'm in the middle of reading a fascinating book on the rivalry between Manning and Tom Brady and the notion that Manning would use HGH doesn't ring true. Then again, I used to believe a lot of things about Tiger Woods that didn't turn out to be true.