FEMA was unprepared, had no sense of urgency--and Trump didn't care. It is doubtful he even realized they were Americans.
Back in April 2018, FEMA warned that Puerto Rico is not ready for another disaster there.
Even with the failures of FEMA'S response, FEMA itself remains unprepared! Trump's administration is a disaster.
This document with Freedom of Information requests is well researched as to the incompetence during the hurricane.
http://latinojustice.org/briefing_room/press_releases/FOIA_-_FEMA_Puerto...
9
Puerto Rico was not ready. Don't blame FEMA. Their power grid was in a state to total disrepair, what could go wrong.
4
Obviously they were not ready. Trump "wings" everything; no plan; no prep work; no analysis. Relatives of the 4500 who died should be able to sue Trump and FEMA for not fulfilling their responsibilities. Ray Sipe
4
Both Washington DC and New York City have been run by the US Government during the not so distant past. Although there is an oversight board in Puerto Rico, it clearly is ineffective. Only new legislation, with an appropriate budget, and a strong administrator, can hope to fix this mess.
Michael Bloomberg, are you available?
3
The purpose of FEMA is not to take over local government relief operations. They are there to supplement and support the structures and operations already in place. Puerto Rico was bankrupt before the storm hit. You can't blame this on FEMA, but political operatives will do it anyway.
3
Meanwhile, thousands of children were poisoned with lead in Flint, courtesy of the republican party. But that's okay, those were poor brown people. And currently, the GOP has deliberately kidnapped hundreds of children at the border and then lost them.
The republican party only cares about their own welfare and their cash. Period. Any questions?
8
It seems FEMA is never prepared for any situation. Only prepared to say that they were not prepared for these Emergency situations.
4
There's actually an upside to this. Thousands of Puerto Ricans have moved to Florida to escape the hurricane destruction. And, they're pretty unhappy about the way they were treated by FEMA, Trump, and the American government as a whole. That combination, plus the fact they are American citizens and can vote, could mean that Florida could be very blue by the time the midterms roll around..
10
Just another milepost to be seen on America's precipitous declining road to third-world irrelevancy...the bloviating bureaucrats of this top-heavy agency up in DC are endlessly self-justifying and just as ineffectual as their voluminous FEMA directives and policies. Puerto Rico is a commonwealth associated with the USA and doesn't have the juice in Congress, just as its endless power cuts graphically showed. Wait till a similar meteorological crisis hits again, as many already have, and deals the mainland a crippling blow...
3
I recall a newspaper column--it appeared years ago, just after the Katrina debacle. The gist was as follows:
Mr. Bush was in office back then. We had eight years of Bush--just as (earlier) we'd had eight years of Clinton.
There were differences.
The Republicans that took over the White House (and have now taken over Congress) were scornful of government. What can GOVERNMENT do? It exists (in the memorable words of one right-winger) only to be dragged into the bathtub and DROWNED.
Nice. Very nice.
This attitude permeated FEMA. The headship of that agency had been given to a man with no experience in disaster relief. The job (as the Brits used to say) was a PLUM. He got it cause he was a nice guy. AND--a stalwart Republican.
FEMA--which had gotten high marks during Mr. Clinton's eight years. . ..
. . ..was a disaster during Katrina. The man himself was not up to the job.
And so--neither was his agency.
Then and now, let me add.
Our government is manned (from the top down) by people who do not much BELIEVE in government. In what it can do. In how it can help people. In how it can do. . .
. . .well. . . .DISASTER relief.
And then, of course. . ..
. . .the people there are all Hispanics.
And our President. . .our Congress. ..
. . .they're not in love with Hispanics right now. Which explains. . .
. .. why many people right now are not in love with THEM.
What a miserable tale this is. SORRY!, Puerto Rico.
5
George Bush deliberately sabotaged the FEMA response to Katrina. The FEMA management fouled up the operational response and made things difficult on purpose. The local government operations were essentially destroyed by the storm with no reliable communication. The phones didn't even work. The cell towers were down. There was no power and no gas to power portable generators. No electricity to power the pumps at gas stations who had run out of gas before the storm. FEMA didn't step up. They delayed and obfuscated.
2
I doubt that we are willing to fund FEMA to fully be prepared anticipated and provide the resources for all disasters with the probability of the twin storms that struck the VI and PR. So, what are the legal and reasonable responses from FEMA?
4
So what else is new? Puerto Ricans are to close to brown for the for the Trump administration to be concerned about. What I find amazing is that we can find 40 BILLION dollars to send to Israel to buy more weapons (mostly from the US), but we cannot find enough money to properly manage, man supply FEMA for the disasters it needs to deal with.
I have said it, and I will say it again, this will not end until we vote all Republicans out of office.
7
Discretionary government spending (as opposed to entitlement programs) is funded main from income taxes. Puerto Rico does not pay income taxes. It is not reasonable for them to expect programs like FEMA to provide the same level of support they provide in US states.
There are pluses and minuses to choosing not to be a state. A plus is that you don't have to pay income tax. A minus is that you get less support.
3
This is an astonishing perspective. One of the primary barriers to statehood is the very US Congress that allocates the resources. Do you really think that Puerto Ricans want to be second class citizens without a vote, in a land where the "real" US dictates economic policy? Meanwhile the putative US president treats his fellow citizens as if they really don't quite qualify for equal treatment. Your reasoning is completely lacking in a basic understanding of the situation.
8
Puerto Rico does pay income tax - go look it up. The tax collected is spent for Puerto Rico's governmental body. They are USA citizens.
4
The residents of Puerto Rico are American citizens. The paying of income taxes is not relevant. As American citizens they are due the full support of our government when a disaster strikes. Should a typhoon or any other disaster ever devastate Guam, Northern Mariannas, or any other American territory, the government should not tarry in providing full recovery support.
3
"And it urges communities in harm’s way not to count so heavily on FEMA in a future crisis." That goes without saying with the demonstrated incompetence of the Trump & Republican administration with a tint of racism added! It was obvious from viewing the Weather Channel that P.R. was going to be severely impacted. Why wasn't the DOD fully committed to respond immediately, along with FEMA, within hours not weeks, to the P.R. crisis? Well, we know!
3
FEMA training for state and local jurisdictions has ALWAYS made it clear that in planning for disaster situations, you should count on the arrival of FEMA for 48-hours. That’s the way it’s always been.
2
"The satellite phones that FEMA had sent to the island were not meant to work in the Caribbean."
A satellite phone works anywhere, as there's no reliance on the local telecom infrastructure. This makes no sense.
3
What I am about to say will not be popular but this is a good place to say it.
If a person lives in the path of a hurricane, flood, tornado, or sits on a faultline like I do and they do NOT have an emergency kit of their own, they have no one to blame but themselves.
I keep a solar powered battery that works on the darkest winter day here in Seattle. It will run a laptop, phone, and lights with ease and it is the smallest unit the company makes. I have a water filter that was tested in African rivers. I tested it by getting water from Lake Washington. I have a tarp, rope, meds, stove, etc. I am not worried about food since our parks are full of fat geese that are easy to hunt along with shellfish and fish in abundance.
But not a single neighbor I have spoken with has done anything to prepare for what could be one of the worst quakes on earth (if we are to believe the Discovery Channel). They are relying on a government that cannot even fix a pothole with efficiency.
I have lived in tornado country, hurricane country, flood country, and on several major fault lines. Americans do not heed the warnings but brag about weathering out this hurricane or that one. They insist on living in trailers knowing that the next thunderstorm could change their zip code. They stay in their homes as the water rises until they are sitting on the roof waiting to be rescued.
Make a plan that does not involve relying on the same people that run your local DMV! :)
10
Tom Harrison, back in the early 1990's when our superintendent from our NYC apartment building retired back to P.R., I recall saying to him; Aren't you concerned about the awful hurricanes that hit P.R. when you move back?
His response, "Everyone who has lived in P.R. knows how bad hurricanes are, we are tuff, and we can deal."
Not so much self reliance these days.
1
Trump, we will recall, gave himself and his administration a "10" for their response in P.R. He'll call this FEMA report "fake news."
1
This is so true. Don't forget to pack a Grab and Go bag for your pets too.
Ah, but they had paper towels, hand-delivered!
5
When does the Trump Administrations incompetence become criminal negligence?
13
I would argue that FEMA was also attitudinally unprepared. Administrator Brock Long declared on the Sunday morning shows in early October that, "We filtered out the [San Juan] mayor a long time ago. We don't have time for the political noise.” The mayor was waste-deep in water on San Juan’s streets when that helpful salvo was lobbed her way. What hubris.
5
What do you think FEMA could have done that they didn't do.
The Mayor was making this political.
If people were dying it was because the local government was inept.
The mayor was not taking the responsibility that she had to accept.
Instead she chose to blame Trump.
Is that a surprise? Coming from Trump and his fake administration.
11
This is a sad tale and this report matches closely to what was reported at the time. It's shocking that we can massively overspend on our military (compared to all other nations in the world!), and that our elected and appointed officials feel entitled to fly first class, order expensive, unnecessary luxuries (secure phone booth, dining room set, etc. etc.) at taxpayers' expense, while local FEMA warehouse shelves are half-empty even when fully stocked.
Puerto Rico's massive debt seems the result of predatory lending practices in play that stripped the local power company, PREPA, of capital that could have been used to modernize the antiquated and poorly maintained grid. Renewable energy seems like the only useful option for isolated areas - but no, FEMA and the contractors are rebuilding just as it was, with no improvements. With all the $billions being spent, we can and should do better.
It's a shocking treatment of American citizens. This administration is engaged in a series of systematic campaigns to subject everyone outside the 1% to all possible additional stresses: deprivation of the very rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that our founding fathers intended. Drinking water, food, shelter and safety should not be commodities reserved for wealthy white men.
12
If the people of Puerto Rico wanted assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, then maybe they should pay the Federal income taxes that fund the agency. But given that they voted multiple times against becoming a state, clearly they're happier to save their money and demand that the rest of the country solve their problems for them.
8
The article only briefly touches on it, but a large part of the problems was lack of local logistics. The local community did not have sufficient staging areas for equipment and supplies or living quarters for the temporary workers that were needed to support the recovery. FEMA was ready to provide personnel and equipment but since local planning was poor, the military had to be mobilized to setup temporary logistics and temporary living quarters.
As stated in the article FEMA's local supplies were used to support the Virgin Islands, which were hit two weeks earlier by a huge storm. Unfortunately, this act of God, also impacted the recovery.
6
How sad and painful to read especially after FEMA's performance following Katrina. What will it take for this agency to be run in a competent, caring manor?
9
When they get money, manpower & real leadership (who are not campaign flunkies as in the case of Bush & Trump appointees). Tax breaks & off shore tax havens for rich are the answer.
5
Puertro Rico is deliberately being neglected. The government is dragging its feet with the recovery because of 1) the President's inherent racism, 2) the President's desire to punish Puerto Rico because the Mayor of San Juan - a woman! - dared to speak out against him and 3) the intent to dispossess as many people as possible from their land so that it can be leveraged profitably in future real estate deals and luxury developments. They saw how well it worked after Katrina.
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This tragic display of poor management, plus the never ending white house revolving door and the utter chaos that has become our immigration mess only points out that this administration, and indeed the Republican Party, is too incompetent to run anything, much less the United States of America.
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I hope that people displaced to the mainland after Maria will have already, or will, register to vote here.
24
I agree.
FEMA was ill equipped because Obama did not equip it.
We should therefore vote for Trump.
I bet you didn't see that coming.
You are using this disaster as a way to attack Trump.
You can use the information in this report to attack Obama.
Why don't you.
.
6
Right.....that was Obama who threw a roll of paper towels to the locals.....
Trump is president, he gets credit and blame for everthing now....or does Obama get credit for the solid economy he left in place?
2
Unfortunately, FEMA was already a disaster under GW Bush. So, use a bit of intelligence here why don't you. I'm not blaming Trump, and neither is Ms. Robles. It is far more complex than that. It is Congress that has utterly failed to fund it properly. And, as she makes clear, FEMA's current administration (appointed by your President) has not put into place sufficient resources to account for major disasters. Why weren't the limited stocks in FEMA warehouses in PR refilled after help was rendered to the Virgin Islands? Here's my theory: the incompetent, fossil-fuel industry pals in this administration and Congress don't believe in climate change so by extension are not helping to prepare FEMA for the inevitable. This is going to happen again. FEMA was created to deal with exactly this, but the shortsightedness of the officials in charge prevented any meaningful response in PR and meaningful responses are going to be lacking in the future unless we vote some adults into power.
1
And then there's Trump's ever-present retaliation factor. PR voted for Rubio in the primary and DJT does not forget or forgive. And let's not forget the sign Melania wore to Texas: I do not really care. Which says it all.
11
If people from Puerto Rico were white, not Latinos, would Trump / FEMA have done things differently?
5
And there you have it - it wasn't racism that caused the feeble response to a huge tragedy - it was just bad planning. Of course, that doesn't explain the continued feeble response up until the present.
13
Or Katrina. It's almost like Republicans are bad at governing...
17
It amazes me how much is left out in the "Blame Game" regarding Puerto Rico 's governments' responsibility in all of this. Comparing this disaster to one in Houston is nowhere near apples to apples especially with regards to the modernity of basic infrastructure that exists in two polarly opposite situations. Insurance claim and relief allocation are pretty difficult when a country lacks real building standards and distinct property designations. Puerto Rico wants to become a state but don't they need to bring their own island up to some acceptable standard first? This situation merely exposed a far deeper problem.
13
It tells us that FEMA wasn't ready for it
I contend that it is ridiculous to think FEMA could have had enough resources that were needed after the Hurricane.
When FEMA calculates what is needed they do not do it with the idea a very huge significant amount of food and other things needed will be destroyed and that there would very little left.
It wasn't their fault that the power grid went down and there was no back up generators.
It was poorly maintained and was antiquated and did not have the parts needed to repair the system when it was required
The government in Puerto Rico should be held responsible for that.
It is unreasonable to think FEMA could have enough emergency generators to power the entire Island or the ability to fix the system after the hurricane.
The fact they had almost none is therefore irrelevant.
If they had more it would not have been enough to make a real difference.
The refrigerators would not have had the power to keep the food from spoiling
The hospitals that did not have the electrical power needed to run their medical equipment and the refrigerators to keep their drugs from going bad would have had those problems even if FEMA was not so ill equipped.
If all the emergency food warehouses were full there would not be enough to feed more than three million and to get them to where they were needed.
One additional thought.
If FEMA was so ill equipped it was because Obama did not equip them.
You should blame him not Trump.
2
Do you know anything about the debt crisis in Puerto Rico prior to Maria and how much of it is the responsibility of shortsighted U.S. government policy? The people of Puerto Rico are no less citizens of the U.S. than the people of Houston, who were bailed out by FEMA. Or, the people of Florida, your state, who will probably be in need of FEMA's assistance during the coming years. I hope that every single person displaced to the mainland has already or will soon register to vote. It's about time they had some say.
15
Neither does Donald Trump. But I agree. He's definitely different.
Your comment is misleading because citizens of Puerto Rico pay other U.S. taxes. Income taxes are not the only source of FEMA funding. Moreover, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico pays big bucks to the U.S. Treasury. So I disagree that there is any significant difference that would warrant such an outrageously incompetent and incomplete response from FEMA for aid to US citizens.
1
Please refer to this important article in the New England Journal of Medicine.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1803972?query=featured_home.
After Katrina we thought we learned many lessons. Indeed we have, however, in disaster management the commitment should be towards lifelong learning. Each event is an opportunity to learn and calibrate to do things better. Instead the President kept saying how great FEMA was and attacked many others. I believe criticism during these events should be taken constructively. The mortality rate in PR is staggering for a modern superpower. We can and must do better. Perhaps redraw our strategies to manage Superstorms, two storms at the same time and "horses for courses" instead of one plan fits all.
6
What a shocking surprise! But they seemed to handle Houston pretty well. Conclusion?
14
Yet if asked for a comment on this latest news Trump will give FEMA and the rest of his administration a "10" for its "spectacular performance."
9
So, let me get this straight...a military junta in Thailand was able to overcome what is widely believed to impossible odds to rescue those boys and their coach from that cave, and the United States of America can't even be bothered to take care of Puerto Rico. Embarrassing.
44
I got a question.
Why do you assume dudie katani was referring to political independence.
What happened in Puerto Rico would have happened if it happened in Alaska.
They are both located in a place that is not easy to get to.
You couldn't get to Puerto Rico easy even by plane as the airport was damaged.
Places like that can not rely upon the help they will get from the federal government.
They need to do it themselves.
4
How can you compare them.
3
And who ran FEMA between 2009 and 2016?
10
Oh no you don't... you don't get to do this, and Trump doesn't get to do this, and the doctrinaire evil that has become FEMA does not get to do this.
This is not a story of poor planning or over-taxed resources.
This is, and only is, a case of vicious, purposeful, racist, ideological murder. Fatal neglect, aggressive negligence, reflected in choices consciously made at every turn, which resulted in the deaths of American citizens and the ravaging of an American territory.
There is no other possible interpretation. Whatever the state of readiness, whatever the reason for the lack of resources and the ineptitude at FEMA, what followed was all according to Trump's nefarious plan.
He withheld aid.
He refused to open up the artificially restricted port.
He failed to supply the manpower or the equipment required.
He accused people dying in their homes, in the streets, in the mud of being whiners, babies, and unmotivated losers unwilling to lift a finger to help themselves. He is doing so to this day.
FEMA did a horrible job, a stupendous failure from start to whenever the finish happens along.
But Trump, Trump and the Republicans, abandoned an island (several islands actually) of American citizens to their fate and did so while mocking, demeaning, blaming, and dismissing them. He knew people were going to die, were already dying, and he approved.
This isn't a story of empty warehouses. This is a story of political murder.
81
Ooooohhhhh! It's all a big cover-up! I'll bet it's the Supreme Court's fault or Evangelicals praying for the destruction of Puerto Rico or something like that. Culdn't possibly be because no government can just sweep in to make an entire nation whole at a moment's notice following the immediate occurrence of multiple other disasters. Couldn't possibly because Puerto Rico was known to be plagued by a corrupt government and decaying infrastructure. Couldn't possibly be because the PR government itself made absolutely no preparations for the protection and recovery of the populace. Coupldn't possibly be because the San Juan mayor and others chose to self-servingly inject partisan politics into a humanitarian crisis. No way. Couldn't be any of those things.
10
I could explain to you how Puerto Rico became what it is ater you came, uninvited in 1898. The you would understand (maybe) how that island served U. S. interests for many decades. How your sugar corporations exploited cheap labor there until it was not profitable anymore. How Puerto Rico became a market for your products and could not buy at a fair price elsewhere. How it provided soldiers for your wars who died without understanding what was going on. How the island was used as the "showcase for democracy" to counteract Cuban popularity in Latin America. I could explain all that. But, why should you care about Puerto Rico? Puerto Ricans have to solve their own problems, beginning by getting independence. I will let you take care of Trumpland.
3
Sing it, oogada....from the rooftops !
GOP Trumpicide.
"Drop dead, America !"
November 6 2018
2
What, not enough paper towels?
11
Hey Republicans. Remember the Constitution...that document you purport to love so much? The first sentence asks our government to "insure domestic tranquility" and "promote the general welfare". All you seem to care about is defense and guns. Why do we have billions for missiles, ships and fighter jets, and nothing for tarps, cots and fresh drinking water? Tarps and cots for heavens sake. This doesn't require anything other than competence, priority setting and compassion. Oh, sorry, I forgot who I was speaking with...
55
I can't put a full blame on FEMA. To expect the warehouse to be completely restocked two weeks after emptying it for the Virgin Islands disaster is expecting a lot. I'm sure that additional goods were being shipped to the Virgin Islands in addition to what was stocked making it nearly impossible to restock the PR warehouse.
The level of destruction didn't help with no port or airport facilities able to receive supplies and destroyed roads preventing trucks from delivering anything. The lack of communications prevented any coordination from taking place. Even cell phones stopped operating once they went dead since there was no way to keep them charged except by an automobile charger something not everyone owns.
I'm sure things could have been smoother but the combination of three very bad storms happening so closely together is a major factor to be considered.
12
I get your point. The timing was awful. Yet this series of tragedies was a sneak peek of what the future holds for North America (and the globe) - more storms, bigger storms, more destruction, many more people impacted. If we don't learn from this chaotic episode, the future looks very bleak for those unfortunate souls impacted in future storms. Maybe double up on the tarps and cots...
19
The US Virgin Islands is exempt from the Jones Act; Puerto Rico is not. Several cruise lines took ships out of service, supplied them and sent them to the impacted islands to help recovery. Because they are foreign-flagged, those cruise line ships were not allowed to help Puerto Rico. Trump temporarily lifted the shipping bans of the Jones Act for Puerto Rico, but only for 10 days! Not enough time for foreign-flagged ships to come in and help. Had the Jones Act been permanently waived for Puerto Rico, foreign-flagged ships and their owners would have helped Puerto Rico, with no money from the USA! FEMA, Trump, and the entire US government are to blame. All they had to do was waive the Jones Act for Puerto Rico, permanently. But the profits of US shipping companies are more important to the current administration than the lives of "those people".
21
Of course we will hear all the predicted castigation of Donald Trump on this - and he shares part, though a small part, of the blame to be sure - yet few will want to touch their fan favorite, former president Obama, under whose eight years apparently FEMA did not robustly stock up the resources or plan for the contingencies in and for Puerto Rico. Could it really have all disappeared and failed in nine short months?
Trump had only been in office for nine months when this storm hit - and anyone who knows anything knows that the federal government has trouble doing anything, good or bad in that time period especially when it has to purchase, stock, and move massive amounts of supplies in a non-emergency through its cumbersome bureaucracy (i.e, in preparatory phases, i.e., long-range planning made years before); clearly, the previous administration dropped the ball.
11
There is a difference between sitting back and watching a disaster happen and blaming someone else and stepping up to do something about it.
Obama, if faced with this crisis, would have moved heaven and earth to fix it. trump did not.
25
“. . . when the killer storm did come, FEMA’s warehouse in Puerto Rico was nearly empty, its contents rushed to aid the United States Virgin Islands, which were hammered by another storm two weeks before. There was not a single tarpaulin or cot left in stock.”
For me, the emotional headline actually read, “When is FEMA ever fully prepared?” Ever since Katrina, it seems as if FEMA has failed in more ways than they have helped. With storms, hurricanes and other potentially disastrous weather related events becoming more frequent and intense over the past decade or more, this is no excuse for FEMA to not be properly and completely stocked and prepared on any given day. Whether the reasons be inadequate or lax management issues or lack of funding, either scenario can and must be fixed before the U.S. enters another season of unpredictable storms. Heck, if the Red Cross can help and service millions throughout the world (which they do beautifully), why does FEMA seem to get tangled up in their own dysfunctional nightmare resulting in 1000s of people going without the basics to keep and stay alive?
27
The article suggests FEMA’s principal problem: the Republican Congress has failed to provide adequate funds to stock FEMA’s warehouses. It may be that foodstuffs are long-term perishable, and thus will be disposed of, unconsumed. But that’s not the case for tarps, cots, generators, medical/surgical supplies, etc. There WILL be more, larger, and more frequent large-scale domestic (including Puerto Rico!) disasters, due both to climate change and increasing urbanization.
FEMA may well need better organization, but absent ample funding for both local and regional warehousing and supplies, the disaster that was/is Puerto Rican recovery will be repeated, perhaps before the end of this year’s hurricane season.
It’s up to Congress and the White House to see to it that this does not happen.
4
I have been to PR a few times. A great tropical place. Enjoyed my visits. Some things always puzzled me. My first visit was way back in my military days. I was puzzled as to why the residents demanded that the Navy's Roosevelt Roads Base be closed. It provided financial support to large numbers of PR residents. That end of the Island did not have much else. Now it has less.
A casual observer would note that the electric power lines through out the Island looked like power lines one would see in third world countries. No systematic installations, lines & cables drooping and crossed, hanging like vines not like high voltage lines.
An endemic "manana" approach to business and enterprise. So, although FEMA was not ready - bad on them - PR was not ready either. Who should be more ready to keep your own house prepared than the homeowner?
Tis island could and should be the vacation paradise for most of the US East Coast. Was not done. Perhaps when they re-build it will attract resort investors?
15
Was anyone blaming NJ homeowners or New Orleans homeowners for not "preparing" their homes for Sandy and Katrina? Puerto Ricans are American citizens, yet they are not given a voice in Congress. Taxation without representation is probably the most un-American concept there is, and it's no wonder PR can't get funding for the projects your talking about -- there's no one there to add such "pork" in Congress! Maybe "mañana" they will no longer be considered second-class citizens.
16
So remember, have your disasters where they are convenient for FEMA otherwise it's not their problem.
When your entire island is without power and a disaster area, your logistics must still be up to snuff. When your infrastructure is destroyed, don't come crying to us.
And we won't admit that we have a responsibility to all American citizens, just those in the continental US.
Even in admitting they were wrong they still don't accept responsibility.
30
There is no way FEMA could be expected to do much more than they did.
Even if they did much more they would not have been able to do what you assume they could have done.
It wasn't their fault the electrical power system was antiquated and could not be fixed after the hurricane.
The local government has to be held responsible.
Why don't you blame them,
4
As American citizens hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans could and perhaps should come to the mainland and become a mass of people without housing that camps on that large plaza in front of the Washington Memorial. We have seen that before and a large Trumpville would be appropriate. It will be like making America great again, like the old days, like when we had Hoovervilles in the 30's.
15
“The loss of life, it's always tragic. But it's been incredible,” Trump said on CNN’s in Sept 2017. “The results that we've had with respect to loss of life. People can't believe how successful that has been, relatively speaking.”
Hail to the Paper-Towel-In-Chief !
November 6 2018
Vote in record numbers, America....for adults.... not tiny, tiny, tiny little Republican men.
48