Obviously the Governor should fuck off

the governor should fuck off for saying that relief has been adequate? While the so called mayor of San Juan has been on every liberal cable show taking shit instead of helping people and not unloading aid cargo?

Are you there?
Do you know what they need?

This is Americans and yer questiining a call for fuckin help

CBS news showed the problem is the lack of working trucks and gas to move the shipping containers out of the port. Typical Republican presidential response like with Katrina to not send it so it can get where it's needed. FEMA under Bush said it couldn't get into New Orleans to deliver.

No one is that surprised. After all, a bunch of brown people getting second class treatment is kind of the American way. It's a much shorter list of where that isn't the case in America than the instance where it is

Well and there is just too little aid. On city got 10000 meals... for 60,0000 people or something like that


Plus the lack of electricity means water filtration and distribution are and issue. The US military has mircogrids by they're not being deployed, just like it took a week for the USS Comfort (a big hospital ship) to even leave port in Virginia.


It's all been anemic. This is the biggest disaster to hit the US in decades, and the Trump administration can't get it together. These guys couldn't organize a piss up in a brewery. We have a little luck that Brock Long is about the only member of the administration with any relevant experience.

The left needs to understand that the government is not a miracle worker, for healthcare, hurricanes, and for illegal immigrants. Trump can’t do everything and the left mercilessly attacks him for it. Where was Obama during the Lousiana floods? That’s right, a golf course.

The onky standards the left has are double standards.

^ literal whataboutism

Ogion, as someone who actually worked in the Logistics field for FedEx, and was a Regional Transportation and Logistics Coordinator, I am curious what you think the 'fix' to the problem is.

As I understand the biggest problem isnt the 'aid', there is over 10K containers already there to get unloaded. Thats a LOT of aid, and apparently more than double that here in the US ready to ship.

The bigger problem is the infrastructure of the island is demolished, and it was already not that great without a Cat 5 beating them into the dirt.

The other problem is lack of truck drivers As i understand from reading, only 15% of the truck drivers have even reported back to work, and the cell towers being down makes it hard for them to contact the rest, but of course diesel needs to be brought in, to run the trucks.

So, there is a lot of aid to be distributed, but the lack of diesel and drivers is really the biggest problem. And without drivers, it wont matter how much diesel is on the island, they cant deliver it from the ports.

Being an island makes this problematic already, butt the hurricane did more damage than can be repaired in 3 weeks.

Priority for them shoudl be 1) cell towers) 2) diesel 3) getting drivers, either local or bringing them from stateside, and then we can move onto the rest of the issues. The distribution network is demolished, and is lacking the most important part...drivers.

Not sure how many drivers we would get stateside, as I understand our own mainland demands has broker rates high, meaning there is more freight than drivers need right now here, so getting drivers would have to be local.

140 helicopters, 28 ships, 6 Army field hospitals, 3 Navy Seabee Battalions, 5 US Army Combat Engineer Battalions, 3 Civil Affairs battalions, 2 Nuclear Submarines capable of generating 2.8 Gigawatts of Power, and released 300,000 tons of food, medical supplies and water from Military stocks.


Yet, still cant get the stuff out to the population Although, it must be getting a little better, as food supplies are apparently hitting Rural areas now

First, Trump was on his sixty seventh day on a golf course as President when he tweeted about the Mayor of Puerto Rico. Trump was very critical of President Obama's time spent playing golf, and Obama, at the same point in his first term had not been on a golf course anywhere near the amount that Trump has. So it's clearly evidence that Trump is a massive hypocrite, be indulges to a far greater extent in something that he criticised Obama for doing.
Second, this is Trump, yet again being racist, indulging in racial politics. Characterising people of colour as being lazy, incompetent and being "welfare dependent". He's playing to his support base of " white Americans who (mistakenly) think they are victims of racial discrimination ". It seems that there is a split within the Republican party, between traditional Conservatives, and " racist Republicans ", the latter being the most enthusiastic Trump supporters. This presents a real problem for traditional "non racist" Republicans, how far do they go with a Faustian contract, how much racism will they ignore before they decide to stand on principle and disassociate themselves from Trump.

Im not defending trump MM He is what he is..not much I am saying, things ARE moving forward, but things need time to develop The Military seems to be getting things geared up rather well.

Dont make this a Trump vs Obama thing, cuz I am not a Trump fan.

I am stating actual facts on the ground, and leaving the politics out of it. You drug the politics into it. This is not about politics, this is about the reality of a bad situation, and how to make it better.

This has been a particularly bad disaster because of the logistical problems with Puerto Rico, and the extent of the disaster. Multiple ports are being shut down, but thankfully ships like the USS Wright have still be able to deliver lots of supplies, something like 1.1 million prepared meals and 1 million liters of fresh water. dialysis centers are back online for most of the island and over 2000 temporary power units have been installed. the number one problem is getting diesel and finding truckers who will actually distribute this stuff.

as for Trump... i mean do you REALLY want him micromanaging every inch of this progress? i mean you can't call him an incompetent buffoon one day, and then the next insult him for delegating the powers to FEMA and people who have expertise in disaster relief. that seems a bit two faced. him golfing isn't the crime of the century. after hurricane sandy Obama did go and play basket ball on multiple occasions while disaster relief was ongoing... i'm not blaming him OR Trump, the President controls the ship, the boat hands trim the sails. he's not a micromanager, he's a delegate.

as for his tweets, which is where a LOT of criticism is coming from, the mayor of san juan... no it's not presidential and it's not appropriate. at the same time, Cruz really has very little to complain about to the federal government. the problem is distribution, which for disaster relief on puerto rico has historically been controlled by the local population and government, by hiring truckers. that precedent is not the federal government's fault in the slightest, and her attacking other Americans saying that they're dying is really not helpful either.

As for the whole of the matter, this is not a serious negative for Trump. I mean honestly, if people get THIS upset over him having an above competent disaster reaction to 3 massive storms that have hit US soil, and his tweets weren't 100% pristine...

i'll take crude, vulgar language and efficient action over the reverse of that any day.


stop turning the #resistance dial up to a 10 over every slight thing Trump does. you have nowhere to go from there, and people won't listen to you.

so cute that Major Mitchell is talking about Trump on a golf course. Obama spent like every other day on a golf course and MM never said anything about it (that I remember).

Also, Trump does business on a golf course.

by business I mean hard negotiations and making political deals.

Dearest ND. I don't have a problem with any chap who spends time on golf courses. It's the chap like Trump who criticises Obama for spending "too much time playing golf" and gives a commitment that he will be different, better, ie, promises to spend less time on the golf course than Obama, then blatantly fails to deliver on that promise, and then spends more time on a golf course than Obama.
That's the point ND, you stubbornly obtuse blockhead. Trump didn't have to make an issue about Obama playing golf, but Trump chose to make that criticism of Obama. Then he exhibits the behaviour he criticised.. That's the monumental hypocrisy you foolish sycophantic Trump acolyte.

ND, Trump has already spent more time golfing than Obama did all 8 years.

But the real question is if Trump is now a better golfer than Obama because he plays more. We need a Washed up Presidents Ryder Cup - now that would get ratings!

See, look how this comes out again We are discussing how to help P Rico, what is being done, what could be done, and now back to throwing mud ...pitiful

You guys just won the President's Cup 19/11. Stressed lines does make a valid point. Thankfully there are good people trying to help the Puerto Ricans. Unfortunately Trump cannot be ignored.

P Rico is a Logistical nightmare for anyone./ There is no 'easy' fix to this. Ports down, cell towers down, grid down, roads choked up, no drivers for the trucks to be found....No president can fix this easily. There is not a magic button to push.

Trump needs to lose his twitter account...lol

So, there are reports surfacing of a conference call five days after Maria with all the disaster response organizations (FEMA, Coast Guard, military etc) with the White House. The White House's response? "We aren't planning to do anything for Puerto Rico".

Let that sink in

It is still to be confirmed, so it might be a false rumor as these often are

Here is the first report I've seen but if it can be confirmed (which it either will be if it's true or it won't), it will be picked up in various sources
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/30/1702970/-Twitter-Donald-Trump-originally-intended-to-do-nothing-for-Puerto-Rico-We-were-all-stunned

If this is true, Lin manuel Miranda is right. Trump is going straight to hell followed by those who support this asshole.

somethign about that dont seem right, cuz the first navy vessel was there 4 days after.

Good point. Much salt is called for. It may be that the navy ordered ships out in their own authority.

That could be but generally naval vessels that leave port unscheduled do so as Pentagon request. I think the first shop was a hospital vessel.

goddamnit, i understand sources have strong reason to stay anonymous, but if this shit is real then i'd appreciate it if they could at least leak an official recording or something.

The first hospital ship, the US comfort left port in Norfolk only two days ago

ah, i forgot which ship it was I thought I heard a hospital ship, but I know there were naval ships off shore rather quickly I was in the Army for 6 years, dont know much about the Navy

There were theee ship that arrived in the first week. Much much slower than Irma or marvel

@Ogion

well we actually brought too much aid in such a short time period, and now much of it is suspected to be rotting or spoiling, other than the canned goods... and that's combined with the fact that there were over a dozen ports closed due to the hurricane, and you can't land thousands of tons of steel from US Navy vessels in the deceptively shallow waters of the Caribbean.

furthermore, it's not "slower" when you consider that the seas were not fit for travel according to the Navy's own reports up to 12 hours after it had passed over Puerto Rico, as the cyclone was still over the water. Also, the USS wright and one other ship made it to puerto rico within 48 hours of the landfall, so i'm not sure that extremely slow.

yes mobilization has been slow compared to our... states that are contiguous, but that's obvious. Puerto Rico is an island, and the logistics behind providing relief have been very difficult. I'm not going to be blaming the white house for this, if anyone, FEMA needed to step up faster.

Brainbomb,

You are a peacenik and an ignoramus. You should get your facts straight or go back to Yemen. Aren't you like openly a communist? Decent people should not have to put up with you.

You're clearly drunk on the fake news narrative promoted by the Deep State, and are able only to regurgitate fast food opinions. Go back to Yemen.

Al Swearengen,

You are a deplorable. You should go back to Nazi Germany.. youd fit in nicely there. Arent you like openly a woman hating fuckboy? Decent people should have to put up woth you.

Youre clearly drunk on your own bile and bodily fluids. Go back to watching rush limbaugh and masturbating with popcorn butter

Settle down guys. Personal insults of that nature don't help at all.
Getting back to the topic of Puerto Rico, if I can be bitterly ironic, are any of us surprised that the Puerto Ricans might be less than impressed with the way the USA has treated them since they were granted independence by Spain. Military invasion, annexation/subjugation without consent, then decades of economic exploitation. Gee, imagine letting the Puerto Ricans to democratically choose their own destiny, even independence.

Actually, Puerto Rico has voted several times on the issue in various formats and independence isn't popular. Commonwealth seems tied with statehood as preferred options and has been for years.

Thanks Ogion, I didn't know that. But you might be risking your (undeserved) reputation with our more Conservative colleagues as being a "loopy, lefty liberal" with that post...LoL

Oh no, that's a very looopy liberal post because it is fact-based

a very looopy liberal post because it is fact-based

You should go back to Nazi Germany.

Brain is using offensive language against another member of the website on the public forum

Brad, you sexually harassed another member of this forum.

You are a creepy old man.

Capt Brad demonstrating his eloquence, erudition, intelligence and sophistication. What a "helpful" contribution.

Brad, hes not a member ANYMORE ahaha

**drum roll**

maybe he went back to Yemen

++cymbal crash++

ogion. unlike shyster ambulance chasing lawyers who run at the drop of a hat, ships, especially civilian crewed ones like 'Mercy' have to gather up the crews, load stores and fuel and then wrap up any ongoing maintenance to get underway. these things take time

bunch of brown people getting second class treatment

^ someone is race baiting again^ must be a liberal, that's all they think about anyway

Brad, you are horrible and creepy.