Ace:
If Trump doesn’t oblige them with a scandal, they’ll just invent one out of whole cloth.
Note the JournOlist style message coordination and repetition.
Article after article condemned Trump for focusing on the NFL (in tweets) instead of Puerto Rico (in tweets). Leftist after leftist also began claiming the damage in Puerto Rico would be Trump’s “Katrina,” in reference to the hurricane that devastated the Gulf Coast during President George W. Bush’s administration.The Daily Beast published an article titled “Puerto Rico has become Trump’s Katrina.” Vox writer and Gaza bridge expert Zack Beauchamp tweeted out an article from his employer and wrote that it was “hard” to read the article “without concluding that Puerto Rico is actually Trump’s Katrina.” FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver also noted “Some obvious parallels to Katrina here.”
…
As it turns out, it was the media ignoring Puerto Rico–not Trump.
PBS’s John Yang spoke to Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello about the help he has received from the states. Rosselo immediately said he was “very grateful for the administration” and that “they have responded quickly.”
Read Ashe Schow’s article — the governor is pretty generous in his praise of the federal response.
Hillary Clinton got on the JournOlist #FakeNews Message Train, demanding that Trump send the hospital ship the Comfort to Puerto Rico — but Instapundit had a stinging rebuttal.
President Trump, Sec. Mattis, and DOD should send the Navy, including the USNS Comfort, to Puerto Rico now. These are American citizens. https://t.co/J2FVg4II0n
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 24, 2017
https://twitter.com/instapundit/status/913045766721167361
Fat, drunk, and Not President is no way to go through life, gram-gram.
@kitt, #46:
Why do you suppose Puerto Rico had no planning? The entire island was run over by a Category 4 hurricane. How does a plan work when every system you depend on to respond has been simultaneously knocked down across the entire region, and all of your borders consist ocean? Does that describe Texas or Florida?
Sometimes seriously bad things happen, and nobody is specifically to blame. I don’t blame Trump for the situation in Puerto Rico; you shouldn’t be blaming the Governor of Puerto Rico, or the Mayor of San Juan, or the people of the island.
@retire05:
Neither the Republican nor Democratic Party is dominant in Puerto Rican politics, which is entirely understandable, given that Puerto Ricans who are residents on the island don’t vote in any national elections. The four main parties are the New Progressive Party, the Popular Democratic Party, the Working People’s Party, and the Puerto Rican Independence Party, which is too small to have official recognition.
The Republican Party of Puerto Rico and the Democratic Party of Puerto Rico, which are affiliated with the mainland Republican Party and Democratic Party, are both so small that they have no official recognition on the island. They mainly represent American citizens living on the island who have legal residency in one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia. They hold presidential primaries among themselves and get a nominating vote at stateside presidential conventions. There are only around 120,000 such party members on the island, between the two of them.
Now, if you want to talk about how U.S. governmental policy toward the Commonwealth has screwed things up, that’s another discussion. We could talk about how predatory vultures in the mainland financial system have lobbied to preserve their profitable bond investments there, or the degree to which the Jones Act has been a shakedown operation for sundry special interests for the better part of a century—none of which Puerto Ricans have had any vote in. Stateside Republicans and Democrats control all of that.
@Nanny G, #50:
My friend in San Juan lives in an apartment with widows certified to withstand 165 MPH winds. The poor people, and there are many, build and live in the houses they can afford, in the locations they can afford.
Should we criticize? How many times do very wealthy Americans build million-dollar beach homes that predictably get blown or washed away, relying on taxpayer-subsidized flood insurance to pay for periodic rebuilding? They build and rebuild where such losses are only a matter of time.
@Greg: What I saw of PR the housing not near as 3rd world as Jamacia we were there just weeks after hurricane and found out how truly greatful the people were for US assistance, and that the tourists were not afraid to return. Was the only year we saw military men(not US) with assault rifles in a couple of small bergs between Montego bay and Negril. The next year the lush greenery was back and the chirping little lizards that get into the rooms.
Yeah, the little lizards are regular house guests. Anywhere there’s foliage, you hear the coquís chirping at night. I used to have a bamboo grove in the patio outside my window. It creaked in the breeze. You suddenly miss all of those sounds when they’re gone.
@Greg:
So far, you’ve complained about two pieces of legislation that you don’t seem to approve of, the Jones Act and National Flood Insurance program. Should I be surprised that you never bothered to mention that both of those were passed under Democrat Administrations? Nah, no surprise in that.
Mercy. One of the reasons Puerto Rico could not afford to be better prepared and finds itself in such dire straits after a disaster lies, again, at the feet of the usual suspects.
The anti-military, anti-American left pushed and pushed until the Navy was driven out of Puerto Rico. Since then, unemployment skyrocketed and infrastructure suffered. New York Democratic Rep. Nydia Velazquez says she doesn’t care how the liberal action hurt the economy and people; what is important is that the military is no longer there.
Then they turned around and demanded the military do more to help.
Here’s an idea; let it leak out that Ann Coulter is going to speak about a statue of Robert E. Lee that is in the middle of Puerto Rico. When Soros ships thousands of ANTIFA thugs to the island to stamp out the speech (buses won’t make the trip this time), take their bats and chains and give them brooms and shovels and put them to work.
The liberals said it was the Jones law, stopping non Americanships from delivering supplies a law intended to protect American jobs, poorly crafted. They dont want to allow non union licensed truck drivers to deliver supplies, is the media reporting this development. If this trend continues the amt and speed of rebuilding possible will shrink. As the president temporarily lifted the Jones act, perhaps the unions should as well temporarily lift their ban.
The Jones Act is an impediment that greatly slows oversea shipping and adds to its cost. It needed to be waived. The problem of distribution across the island is a separate problem. Computer systems that normally process arriving shipments and organize distribution and dispatching are down. Doing that manually would be a challenge, even with functional telephones. There’s limited communication between transport companies and their drivers, many having great difficulty getting to work. There’s uncertainty about roads and receiving locations, and limited access to diesel fuel for the trucks.
I don’t think unions are really the problem here.
@Greg:
So you’re admitting that a law passed in a Democrat administration is, and has always been, bad. Good
It has been. Duh!!
Ever hear of the walkie-talkie? If there is no communication available, how are news reporters getting information out? And what are you suggesting; that every bottle of water and every can of chicken noodle soup be inventoried?
Here is the deal, Greggie Goebbels: Mother Nature doesn’t give a damn about modern technology. No one iota. So if you live in a highly vulnerable area, like an island, you need to prepare for when Mother Nature thumbs her nose at your technology and wipes it out. And if you turn the response to Mother Nature over to your government, it is your responsibility to make sure that government is doing its job.
Why, at this late stage of the disaster? Are there no helicopters available (from one of those U.S. ships) to be able to tell the Puerto Rican government what roads are open and what roads are not?
Well, now….we have the problem, don’t we?
I’m guessing that without certain aspects of “socialism,” such as Social Security and Medicare, you’d be up a creek without a paddle—a fact which most likely drives you crazy. Most of the people at Trump rallies look like they’re equally out of touch with reality. They don’t realize what would happen to them if the powers behind the GOP fully had their way. They listen to something like Trump’s tax reform pitch in Indianapolis, and it doesn’t register that the “death tax” elimination he’s extolling will actually only benefit the wealthiest one-half of one percent of the population, while adding to the debt everyone will have to deal with. They don’t seem to notice the lack of details concerning how any of this benefits the average American. They don’t get it that tax cuts have to be paid for in some fashion—that cutting taxes without limit doesn’t actually magically increase revenue without limit—and that the ultimate cost of such fiscal irresponsibility will be the insolvency of programs that they themselves greatly depend upon.
@Greg: You’re working on your contortionist act now. First the Jones act should be suspended, but the requirement that it be union labor driving the trucks All the politicians there have been identified as democrats, but you’re trying to claim they’re not ALL democrats. Every port has ships waiting at every dock and the Puerto Ricans won’t unload them because they’re not being guaranteed union wages. I guess it’s not an emergency to them, only to the Dumbocraps in the US that want to make it a political issue.
That is a lie. Where do you get this sort of total, unmitigated crap? Have you got an article you can link? Or are you listening to voices inside your heads?
@Greg:
You must be completely out of your mind. Have you ever applied any math to the ‘socialism’ ‘benefits? ‘ (to say that a benefit is to stretch the imagination and the meaning of the word.) Greg, have you ever applied any math tools to these ‘benefits’. I started working, with SS being withheld when I was 14 and worked with SS being withheld until I was 62. Do realize how much money I would have accumulated with those deductions if they had only been deposited at some ‘nominal’ rate? 5-10%? Then on top of that, they start charging me some percentage for paying for my medicare for after I was 65. They started charging that in 1967
@Greg:
Why should it bother you if I use something you think is crap. It sure as hell doesn’t bother you when you spout all kinds of total unmitigated crap. Such as there is no one there linked to Dimocrat party, they’re all socialists, progressives, communists. Oh gee, there’s a difference?
@Greg:
Let’s see, as Redteam tried to explain to you, you are forced to pay into a system that you reap no benefit from for over 40 years knowing that if that money was invested in any meager IRA, it would have a greater value than what you eventually get in return. And if you die early, your family gets squat. But hey, it was meant to be a Socialist program. In a free society, workers would be able to “opt out”.
And you judge people on their looks? Not the content of their character?
Typical liberal you are.
And that would be what? Tell us what your crystal ball tells you.
Ever own a farm, Greggie Goebbels? Ever add up the value to even the small farms (less than 500 acres) which includes the value of the house, the barns, the silos, tractors, “sheds”, other farm equipment, not to mention the value of the land or any livestock? Naw, you never have, but I can tell you that it doesn’t take much to reach that $1 mil mark. If you have already paid taxes on that property, and that equipment, and that barn and that house, why do you Socialists want farmers/ranchers to continue paying taxes on them in perpetuity, and then force their children to sell off holdings to pay the Estate taxes? You Socialists just can’t get over wanting what other people have worked for, can you?
What you own is not supposed to benefit any one else. How about you giving your land back to the Indians it was stolen from if you are such a Socialist?
JFK disagreed with that premise. Maybe we could cut out treadmills for shrimp as a start.
@Redteam, #65:
Which is to say, you have no credible source, but are repeating the lie that you were told anyway.
Kurtz was in San Juan to ask for help, and having made the trip himself, he doesn’t believe that road conditions are an obstacle. “The roads are open,” he says. “I’ve been able to come here. So why haven’t we used this to [transport goods] west?”
source http://wlrn.org/post/puerto-rico-containers-full-goods-sit-undistributed-ports
So why is MSLSD screeching Madcow finding a nurse to interview making it seem like the US is ignoring the cries of the PR people.
Its hard, its complicated the power situation so bad, so run down the power plants need to be rebuilt.
As far as their government
Percentage of votes cast in last election: (2012)
New Progressive Party (NPP)
47.7%
Popular Democratic Party (PDP)
47.1%
Not exactly conservative but who will they blame for the slow response afterwards too many have seen the waiting containers, is there no incentive they can offer?
Trump has sent
140 Helicopters
28 Ships
6 Army Field Hospitals
3 Navy Seabee Battalions
5 Army Engineering Battalions
3 Civil Affairs Battalions
2 Nuclear Subs generating 2.8 gigawatts
300,000 tons of supplies
to Puerto Rico
The system compensates for the fact that a great many people don’t have the foresight and self-discipline to save adequately for their own later years, which always arrive much sooner than expected. I think that’s actually true of most people.
People who do very well still have the means to save and invest, in spite of their Social Security and Medicare payroll tax deductions. I’m rich but unhappy because I’m not even richer, and that’s because there’s Social Security doesn’t strike me as a convincing argument against a program that has kept generations from destitution.
What, exactly, are you people suggesting with regard to the stricken island of Puerto Rico? Maybe you should come right out and say very specifically what’s on your minds. There certainly seems to be a huge amount of resentment. I heard nothing like this regarding our fellow citizens in Texas or Florida, and the situation there wasn’t anywhere near so dire.
@Greg: We are asking what else can be done to make Wretched Madcow shut her stupid yap and stop making it all FEMAs fault. The entire electrical grid of Houston wasnt destroyed because it was bankrupted giving away elecricity to ever energy hungry government entities, There was no money to make improvements let alone maintenence, it was run by appointees screwed up socialist style system. Perhaps they could try a little journalism to find out why the supplies are just still sitting on the docks after the roads were cleared by FEMA, the way has been cleared for fuel to get to the island let them report how hard all those PR gov employees are working on distribution, how hard they are organizing their own road crews, seems thats what the PR people are going to want to know next time the vote in a Progressive. Are they just clearing the roads to the politicians homes?
@Greg:
If you would recall (if not, take a look at the title of the topic) the subject being addressed is that the leftist media is trying to turn an effort to help Puerto Rico that is going better than should be expected into Trump racism. The infrastructure of Puerto Rico is what is is for a variety of reasons, and conditions such as the Democrats forcing the Navy out of Puerto Rico has not helped, but the fact is that Trump is dealing with 3 natural disasters and doing well at it.
If you have a complaint, direct it towards your own sore-loser party that is still trying to undo a legal election.
http://ijr.com/the-response/2017/09/987168-san-juan-mayor-goes-off-trump-throws-things-press-conference/
Who was she talking to?
They have the gall this morning of asking me, ‘What are your priorities, mayor?’ Well, where have you been?
Where did the folders come from what did they contain? Was that Femas hunny do list?
Were the hell has she been, what are her priorities?
Guess what Madam Mayor the USA is also fighting a war, Your horrible disaster was the 3rd to happen. Call every trucking company in your city or get off your ass and drive there, raise hell with them. Are all your city streets clear have you been organizing city workers?
Seems weird the Mayor of the capitol was asked where she has been.
There’s clearly a major disconnect on the right regarding the catastrophe that’s currently unfolding in Puerto Rico.
This guy knows what’s going on, and isn’t afraid to say: Retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who led Katrina relief, slams response to Puerto Rico
The problem in a nutshell:
@Greg: Send in the paper pushers and beancounters first then it doesnt look like an invasion, freaking already frightened confused people with a mass of uniforms and guns, now troops will be cheered not feared. Already ACOE there assessing bridges and roads getting that info to the beancounters. The Madam Mayor way out of line, let her cry to her Governor, chain of command you know, cant have every mayor of every city or town telling FEMA what to do.
@Greg: This morning, Geraldo Rivera, liberal on Fox, from Puerto Rico, discussed the poor condition of PR’s infrastructure PRIOR to the storm. Rotten telephone poles, poorly maintained lines, old, decrepit buildings and little or no preparation.
I’m sure you can search and search and search and find the random bitter-boy and get an anti-Trump blurb, but the facts, conditions and the effort deployed speaks for itself. There is nothing at all to complain about regarding the effort put forth for the people of Puerto Rico.
@Deplorable Me, #76:
So what’s your point? That a shaky electrical infrastructure before Hurricanes Irma and Maria somehow makes the 3.4 million U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico unworthy of the levels of emergency response that are actually needed? Because that’s what you seem to be suggesting, whether or not you’ll admit it. Arguing that the response has thus far been adequate to the extent of the catastrophe flies in the face of reality—something which you should really try to become more familiar with.
Some of San Juan’s “old decrepit buildings” have been standing for 400 years. Many homes are lightly and cheaply built, because that’s all people can afford. Many others are concrete reinforced with steel rebar. How well do you think North America’s endless neighborhoods of “manufactured homes” and stapled-and-glued-together particleboard palaces would hold up under similar conditions? We tear down our century-old structures and replace them with stage-front buildings designed to last only so long as they can be depreciated for corporate tax purposes. A time will come when that all suddenly begins to catch up with us. As for the North America’s aging power grid, it’s certainly nothing to brag about. The whole thing could collapse in the blink of an eye from a cyber-attack or serious solar flare event. In some rural areas, its condition is probably on roughly the same level as Puerto Rico’s. And how much debt are various states carrying?
@Greg: You are correct on many things, what we are railing on is the very socialistic systems that failed the people of PR. The Electric lobby keeps congress from hardening our grid, but if damaged they are responsible for repairs paying their own linemen. You know that is not the case in PR The Governors residence was built in the 1500s, I am sure it needs repairs but is mostly intact. Over and over the media is giving the impression that there is no food water or fuel in PR, that the US is not responding to their needs. Playing the Madam Mayors voice over and over, she had the time to print up a T shirt for CNN saying ” Help us we are dying and matching cap, SOS. When the Governor was baited on Trumps response to her rant , done in front of tons of supplies, he pretty much said it was in reference to that mayor only. How do you think the people of PR would fare if we just cut them a big fat check, and opened non American shipping, letting them handle the disaster? No MSM outlet has shown the thousands of full containers all delivered in a week without the ban lifted?
My heart breaks for the children as the parents wait for the US government to do everything for the failed Government they voted into office. We are sending more
as it is realized the rulers of the island need their food chewed for them.
@Greg:
The second paragraph. You struggle to miss it.