The US has had a number of wake up calls. Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans, Sandy and NYC, Maria and PR, Harvey and Houston, etc etc.
We saw what Sandy's storm surge did to lower Manhattan. The seas may rise higher than that this century and not go down for hundreds of thousands of years.
The US slept through those wake up calls, but the front desk will keep trying with louder and louder calls for a very, very long time.
3
I am glad that the hurricane spared PR. But, if it even thinks about heading toward Mar-a-Lago, look out Florida! trump might feel compelled to launch a nuclear strike, because he knows more than the generals, and NOAA, and every other expert on anything. We could only hope for a direct hit on his gold-plated ballroom.
5
What kind of a person mocks and bashes citizens who are about to be hit by a hurricane? I think we know what kind of person does that.
11
@Linda
You mean the kind of person who might be caught on an Access Hollywood tape bragging about sexually assaulting women?
3
Greenland if your listening, this is the treatment you will get from the chosen one.
12
Racism and ignorance masquerading as fiscal concern, a Republican specialty.
Building codes in Houston? Seriously? Millions are being spent reconstructing houses built in the flood plain to begin with and it will happen again when the next big storm hits. New Jersey shore line development exact same thing, rebuilding where there shouldn't be any houses. Fire Island, Florida and the rest of the gulf states as well. Billions wasted reconstructing homes too near the sea, many owned by rich Republicans.
So spare us your objective eugenics approach, OK? And as far as corrupt governments go, the president may want to take a close look at his home state, New York. Have they taken down that "For Sale" sign on the capitol lawn?
8
@Lou Good
I love Page, AZ, Lou.
1
Democrats were rooting for the hurricane to hit Puerto Rico, just as they are also cheerleading for a recession.
2
@Rick
And your evidence for your assertions is . . .
16
I don't know what "rooting for" a recession or a hurricane would look like. Could you describe it? I DO know what increasing the chances of environmental damage or economic turmoil via policy looks like. It's clear who leads the charge on those fronts.
10
@Rick - Actually, my hope and prayer was that it would totally miss Puerto Rico and only hit Mar-a-Lago. The president already has a supply of paper towels and he should be okay.
8
If only we could direct the storm to mar a lago and ask it to just stay right there for the future
15
@JD
Quite a lot of innocent people would suffer as a result of your wish.
2
@Erik Frederiksen if they live there they are most likely trump supporters so not so innocent imho
4
@Erik Frederiksen It is clear that JD is joking to make a point. But do you know what is deadly serious? Trump and the Republican climate change denial and fossil fuel energy policies are creating more destruction and extreme weather events, with a lot of innocent people all around the country and the world suffering as a result.
7
Trump says the political system in Puerto Rico is broken and their politicians are either Incompetent or Corrupt [sic]. PR is a territory controlled by the US government, so I guess he finally got something right. I suppose our other territory taking a direct hit from Dorian doesn't merit as much disdain because it contains "US" and "Virgin" it its name.
10
Will Florida also be called corrupt when they get hit by Dorian?
1
Trump has suggested that dropping nukes on tropical storms might make crush hurricanes. I say, Why not just skip that strategy and unleash atomic bombs directly onto the U.S. territories like Puerto Rico to eradicate the whole lot once and for all?
He not only dislikes PR, the U.S. V.I's and other such island pretenders but also never considered their residents to be real Americans in the first place. Nuclear blasting would certainly be more effective than shooting paper-towels over islanders' heads.
Besides, now that the U.S. president is preparing to siphon off disaster relief millions to build his big, beautiful, border wall, there'll be pennies left to salvage any American proporties hit by torments.
7
@Peggy Rogers. Do you actually believe every rumor the media print ? Are you that gullible? And by the way, Peggy, Obama did the same thing in 2014. Were you outraged then?
@Jackson:
Obama did? Funny, I googled it and can't find it at all.
I got articles such as this: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-storm-sandy-fema/obama-fema-hustle-federal-disaster-relief-to-sandys-aftermath-idUSBRE89U04J20121031
As I recall Sandy was a destructive storm .
Be really careful who you listen to/ read and believe.
2
oops I meant hurricane Maria, not Sandy.
1
Maybe Trumpelstilskin can build a wall to keep the hurricanes out, but it of course would only protect Red States. When the hurricane hits the US mainland, I hope it decimates Mar-a-Lago.
13
I’m sure Trump would like nothing more than to pour billions and billions of reconstruction aid into swing state Florida during an election year.
9
Glad that the hurricane will "skirt" Puerto Rico. Based on what I have been seeing on cable news, I believe that many in the media actually wanted a direct hit on Puerto Rico, blame everything that could go wrong on Trump, and then call him a racist.
1
Disgraceful Fact: FEMA aid will only arrive in Republican-leaning areas damaged by the hurricane.
6
@Marshall:
No, worse than that: Trump is diverting FEMA money into his "control the border from the immigrant hordes" fantasy.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fema-funds-to-ice-trump-administration-disaster-aid-money-to-migrant-detention-centers-dorian-approaches-puerto-rico/
2
Now that Puerto Rico might not be getting a direct hit from Dorian, the money from FEMA will not be available to help Florida and South Carolina.....what will trumps excuse be to his republican voters about not being able to spend the funds on Americas mainland......maybe he can send them paper towels too.
6
I will pay hard cash to any reporter who doesn’t use the phrase “hunker down” this hurricane season.
9
It'd be funny if they replaced it with the synonym, "squat".
2
Trump just finished raiding FEMA:
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is reprogramming $271 million in department funding for immigration enforcement, including $155 million from FEMA disaster relief.
7
@New World. You know Obama did the same thing in 2014, right?
A tropical island might get hit by a category one hurricane and the comments in the NYT predict a disaster of epic proportions. This is beyond silly.
2
@Mkm
Quite a few of the people living in PR still have tarps for roofs . . .
12
@Mkm:
the U.S. did not help Puerto Rico as it should have/ was obligated to.....their electrical grid is still iffy and many houses are still damaged from Hurricane Maria.
2
Hope people take adequate precautions and evacuate, if needed. Already Puerto Rico has suffered a lot on account of the last storm. Hope there will be no human casualties and no serious damages.
5
Please people, add battery operated fans to your hurricane supply lists. I just read the local paper’s recommendations for safey pins and a bottle opener. What would I do with a bottle opener? A battery operated fan could SAVE YOUR LIFE HERE IN 94 degrees. Why doesn’t FEMA or anyone add that to the supply lists? I just got home from the store and people are buying water and potato chips. Also what about adding a fishing pole? We once went weeks without power or stores. All of our food and gas was GONE and FEMA did not come to this area. Couldn’t wait on those lines in the heat anyway. You have to survive.
6
@Florida:
Many people no longer have regular can openers.....necessary for meals like tuna, soup, etc.....
Also tons of batteries, ditto flashlights, a weather type radio, and lots of bottled water. Ice (for ice chest!)......fill up all cars with gas which DOES run out......if you have a generator, be sure it is full of gas and test it.
(have lived in Florida all my life).
2
Good to read that Puerto Rico may get a break.
It does look like Dorian will hit heads-on somewhere along a long stretch of the US coast. As a CAT 3 a lot of ocean front property is in serious danger, and they better start preparing now.
For the majority it will be a NIMBY storm, but if they wait for a better definition of he path, it might be too late.
4
"And the Trump administration said this month that it would delay about $9 billion in disaster prevention funds intended for Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, citing concerns over fiscal management."
Any excuse in the book to not help out Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands should Hurricane Dorian hit and devastate those areas.
Somehow that analogy of having a heart made of stone doesn't seem too far off.
I sincerely hope this hurricane will spare Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands and the state of Florida and simply dissipate far away over the ocean.
Good luck everyone. I wish everyone safe days and nights ahead. And don't forget about the pets and other animals.
11
A big part of me looks forward to what happens when these southeastern states (not Puerto Rico, which looks to be mostly spared) experience the FEMA shortfall caused by the president they duly elected.
6
Hurricanes gain strength in warm waters. If if the water temperature rises, as is foreseen, such storms will become more potent.
5
It's unfortunate that most Americans in the mainland are totally unaware, not just that Puerto Rico is a territory just like Washington, DC, but that it is a vital part of this country in the Caribbean. As the most developed island, it offers medical services and products to the rest of the Caribbean including the US Virgin Islands. It is an American possession others benefit from. Puerto Ricans are very generous and help other islands when they need help. And example is that when an earthquake hit Haiti several years ago, Puerto Rican doctors volunteered their medical services. When is it that this country is going to appreciate Puerto Rico and the contributions of Puerto Ricans to this country including those who died for this country when drafted and those who now volunteer for the military? When is the president and other ignorant uneducated Americans going to appreciate that Puerto Rico is an educated cultured territory, an European settlement older than the United States that is not asking for handouts but for respect and appreciation. Yes, there is corruption, but those who are corrupt are actually puppets of the corruption in DC.
16
so wishing for a direct hit at mar a lago.
20
I shouldn't be shocked but I'm still shocked that Trump can turn anything, literally anything, into something about him.
impending natural disaster? About him.
11
A little more attention to the Virgin Islands, please! Also, American islands.
7
It would certainly be poetic justice for the hurricane to skirt Puerto Rico and then singularly destroy the Trump Doral resort. Unfortunately, Trump is never 'poetic' or 'justified' and real life is not Dickensian. But a reckoning will come eventually.
9
I can see mattresses with hundreds of bedbugs clinging to them floating in the debris.
2
I just hope the Puerto Ricans and all others catch a break this hurricane season.
A hurricane and an indifferent WH - not a good combination.
7
On reflection, the nice thing is that no matter what happens, it won't be one thousandth as destructive as if Trump got his way and tried using nuclear weapons to destroy the hurricane.
16
The most important thing to do now is to assure the adequacy of the island’s supply of paper towels.
Were it not for Donald and Melania’s earlier trip there, the residents of the island would have been forced to rely on luxury Turkish towels.
18
@A. Stanton:
No, no, the one Trump threw them is now enshrined in a museum.....
2
Hopefully the (perhaps) hundreds of thousands who permanently fled Puerto Rico for Florida two years ago have registered to vote and come out in great numbers in 2020 to vote for the Democratic nominee. Republican Florida officials have already done all they could to thwart former felons from registering to vote, and they will certainly continue to suppress minorities and Puerto Rican arrivals. But an overwhelming turnout of former Puerto Ricans for the Democratic nominee may flip Florida for red to blue, its that close. Let's hope.
30
Gleeful readers in Denmark are gloating about all the money they are saving on disaster relief for the Virgin Islands.
Gleeful readers in Greenland are thankful their island will not be ignored like Puerto Rico, if disaster strikes.
10
That's odd, I thought a comment about the fact that Trump has considered using nuclear weapons on hurricanes would have been completely topical and appropriate here.
8
PR is about to be hit by another hurricane and the deplorable, empty souled “president” is spending his day tweeting a barrage of insults about the country and the mayor os San Juan.
I hope the leaders will refuse to meet with him in the aftermath. I don’t think they need any more paper towels anyways.
People of PR, stay safe and know that this loathsome person doesn’t speak for most Americans. Stay safe.
30
@Tam. And I hope the “leaders” do their jobs for a change.
3
@Jackson you mean the “leader” of our country? Not gonna happen wouldn’t be prudent
3
@Tam
Thank you! It's almost 6:00 here and we have gotten no rain and barely more than a tropical breeze. As my grandmother used to say, the Virgin Mary spread her cloak over the island today and protected us.
You would have to be here to see how traumatized the populace has been by Maria. People were preparing for a tropical storm the way most people would prepare for a category 5 hurricane. The memory of real hardship, including hunger and thirst, is fresh in people's minds. It was hard to watch especially the children and old people relive the terrible fear and anxiety of those months in 2017.
And fear not! Most Puerto Ricans know at least a few mainland Americans and are quite aware that Trump does not represent the heart of this nation. His days are numbered. Long live the USA! Que viva Puerto Rico!
4
Here is a simple example of how global warming can affect weather.
Tropical cyclones derive their strength from warm water and much of the resulting damage is due to storm surge. Add heat to the system and a higher base sea level and you get more destructive storms.
I don’t think one can say that global warming caused Hurricane Sandy, but ocean temperatures were several degrees above normal for both Sandy and typhoon Haiyan and sea levels were higher than before the Industrial Revolution, so global warming exacerbated the storms.
The extra foot or so of sea level rise on the US East Coast caused Hurricane Sandy to flood an additional 25 square miles. (one foot of sea level rise, averaged globally moves the shoreline inland 300 feet, it’s worse in places like S Florida and Bangladesh).
Another interesting thing about Sandy. Changes in the jet stream, perhaps due to Arctic ice decline, allowed Sandy to follow an unusual, and unusually damaging course; directly into land with the dangerous semi-circle of the storm piling water ashore.
As if that weren’t enough, these systems are slowing down and holding more moisture so we’re seeing unusually large amounts of rain in storms like Harvey in Houston and Florence in the Carolinas.
Katrina and Sandy didn’t spur us to action and Katrina killed 1,836 people. If we wait to act until a category 6 hurricane plows through NYC or Miami on top of 1-2m of sea level rise it will be a little late.
29
@Erik Frederiksen hurricane = weather, the fact that Alarmists are attempting to portray this hurricane as a sign of AGW says about all one really needs to know about the politics behind the "science".
@Jerry
Your comment indicates you didn't read the post you are responding to.
Try to read it first.
5
If the Government of Puerto Rico could sell the Commonwealth owned electric utility to private investors, I am sure that when electric power is lost as a consequence of a storm, the power would be restored much more quickly.
Private utilities are motivated to a expeditious restoration of electrical power, because until that occurs they are unable to sell electricity. Government owned utilities, whether electric, natural gas or water are inherently inefficient because the lack of profit motive means there is no reason to work hard to restore necessary services.
4
@John Quinn. The government would rather employ 10,000 people in their utilities. Who knows what they all do.
1
Trump was looking in the mirror when saying, “Their political system is broken and their politicians are either Incompetent or Corrupt.”
39
Fortunately, Dorian is not expected to bring dangerous winds to Puerto Rico but the weather will be very stormy, wilde and gray. Not a pretty picture.
3
Share concerns. However it is not even a hurricane yet and at most won't hit PR with more of a Category 1 force. Rain can cause mudslides and some serious problems but this is not a major disaster looming. What is a major disaster is our President and his racist policies.
More work is needed to restore trust and good governance. But the US government needs to provide the promised funds.
Congratulations to the people of Puerto Rico who effectively forced corrupt leaders out of office. The USA has much to learn from the people of Puerto Rico.
19
You are in it alone Puerto Rico.
The Republicans could care less if your island is destroyed as long as taxes don't go up for the people that own them. Their donors.
14
The Department of Homeland Security should permanently suspend the Jones Act (Merchant Marine Act of 1920) so Puerto Rico have same status as USVI.
Back in 2017 it took almost a week before DHS suspended the Jones act for 10 days.
Besides from getting emergency help quick, it will also be easier and cheaper to get stuff to Puerto Rico from other countries.
18
On CNN yesterday, San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz of Puerto Rico said, "It seems like some people have learned the lessons of the past or are willing to say that they didn't do right by us the first time and they are trying to do their best. That is not the case with the president of the United States."
"So get out of the way, President Trump, and let the people that can do the job get the job done."
Mayor Yulin Cruz speaks for all patriotic Americans.
56
Dorian will pass and recovery will begin. The Trump disaster will continue and recovery may not be possible.
We can’t nuke hurricanes but we can impeach presidents. What are we waiting for?
38
@Larry Roth
we will see what congress does when they return, I believe that Nancy will listen to the will of the people. This man is destroying everything he touches and it will take decades to replace the damage.
If fools want to vote for a bigot con man then let them vote for him we have more than enough people who want to be on the right side of history.
4
I’ve been saying that for a long time and being constantly disappointed. I hope you are right.
2
Well, I sure hope Donald Trump and Mick Mulvaney can siphon off all that FEMA money to "pay for" their imaginary wall before we're forced to use it to help our fellow American citizens in Puerto Rico.
We wouldn't want to use the powers of government for anything positive, would we? That would be totally off-brand!
25
And, like clockwork, Trump insulted the Mayor of San Juan on Twitter as the island prepares for the hurricane.
35
Nothing to worry about folks.
The President has five cartons of paper towels loaded on
Air Force One.
72
Trump is racist and deeply ignorant about US history.
Puerto Rico is a US territory because the US invaded the island in 1898 and claimed it in the Treaty of Paris. (Anti-imperialists like Mark Twain were bitterly opposed to the takeover. However, that is all part of the history.)
As I type, the US controls PR's government; transportation (land, air, sea); banking system; public education, military/police; tax codes and more. Puerto Ricans were drafted into all major wars since WWI in a heavy proportion.
Yulin Cruz is right: Trump would do best to stay out of the way of Maria's survivors and ground personnel in the path of a natural disaster. He has nothing to add but contempt.
55
@Judith Thinks Did you really need to add "about U.S. history" to your first sentence? I don't think you did.
2
I hope the people in Puerto Rico make it through this one and the other coming storms with minimal damage.
It would help tremendously to have a real president and real local leadership in the island.
The incompetent pretend WH present occupant is no help to the island nor to the nation.
19
@Wilder. Is that why he has already issued a state of emergency?
4
@Jackson
Trump does everything for a photo op, not because he has sense to know what he is doing. Everything now is for the election and he just doesnt realize that people have very long memories . Once a bigot always a bigot and we all know that he didnt even know where PR. was during the last storm . He found the corrupt governor to hang with, isn't that interesting.
8
I wish the best to all resident of Puerto Rico
sincerely hope the hurricane Dorian will not cause too much damage and suffering
13
Why should Puerto Ricans be grateful? They pay taxes for this assistance. Why should they be made to feel like beggars. This is what government is for. As to using the opportunity to insult the mayor, what a fool this man is.
91
@DS
Actually, only income from federal employee salaries and from outside the territory are subject to US federal taxation. Any income made in PR is not subject to federal income tax. There is of course local taxes, but the funding for natural disaster relief will be coming from federal coffers the average Puerto Rican does not contribute to.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Puerto_Rico
7
@QED
Puerto Rico is part of the United States. We are all Americans, and the federal government is just as responsible for the lives and well-being of the people on that island as anywhere else in America.
Should we also cut off FEMA assistance to states such as Alabama and Mississippi, whose relatively weak economies can't cover their own expenses when hurricanes hit the Gulf? Should more prosperous "blue" states like California and New York refuse to pay for the South's recovery, based on their economic status?
No! That's not how America works: we take care of our own, with no one left behind. Including Puerto Rico.
67
@DS. They don’t pay federal income taxes. Why doesn’t Canada ever help out?
5
IDK, maybe take care of an existing commonwealth, Puerto Rico for example, before contemplating an unsolicited offer to buy Greenland?
48
Made me realize, it's nice for Greenland that they don't really have to worry about Trump's negligence or hurricanes.
6
Could we make the US Virgin Islands less of an afterthought here? They too got walloped by Irma and Maria. The possible impact on Puerto Rico is obviously a major story, but Virgin Islanders are US citizens too, and their recovery from the 2017 storms has been arduous, and remains incomplete.
53
@Steve Holt
I couldn’t agree more. As someone who has spent a great deal of time in the USVI and owned a condo on St. Thomas, I’ve been shocked once again by how coverage of the storm basically skips right over them as if they are just an afterthought. I understand that Puerto Rico is larger and more well known as an American territory, but it is galling to see the fact that St. Thomas took a direct hit from a Cat 1 when they are still recovering from Irma and Maria get barely a mention. They are U.S. citizens just as much as those in Puerto Rico and Florida.
5
People bracing for a storm, and Trump tweets this:
"We are tracking closely tropical storm Dorian as it heads, as usual, to Puerto Rico. FEMA and all others are ready, and will do a great job. When they do, let them know it, and give them a big Thank You - Not like last time. That includes from the incompetent Mayor of San Juan!"
This is our commander in chief?
Congress should impeach him for this single lame tweet and end this nightmare.
160
@C. Whiting. So to you, an impeachable offense is saying something you don’t like. And the government of Puerto Rico has proved to be quite corrupt.
6
@Jackson
An impeachable offense is trashing our country by repeatedly attacking our own people. And yes, I and many others don't like it.
19
@C. Whiting
Nancy Pelosi is too busy entertaining rich, Corporate donors to fulfill her Constitutional duty.
Can Trump NEVER make a presidential statement without following it with an insult? Last thing Puerto Rico needs is more slamming of its governance when they're preparing for the slam of another hurricane ...
74
Sigh. I guess it’s time to hit the grocery store.
8
@berman Yes, it appears so. Down here in Port St. Lucie, Publix is already running low on water, and my store didn't have any D batteries left. Stay safe!
4
I have been through a dozen storms starting with Hugo the year I moved to my beach home on the inner outer banks.I have listened to The media much to my chagrin But they often give warnings to be heeded. I have left the beach and on I 95 in One storm I found it was a Difficult to go in any direction Because I had escaped the wind only to be caught in the flooded coastal plain in North Carolina but some how we got back to the beach that had fared better than anywhere.The lesson is that you should get all the information and make your own mind up as hurricanes are unpredictable. My home is now still no livable since last September as a result of vulcher contractors who show up to prey on folks after the storm. These storms should make people think hard about where they are retiring to.
13
Trump's tweet: "We are tracking closely tropical storm Dorian as it heads, as usual, to Puerto Rico. FEMA and all others are ready, and will do a great job. When they do, let them know it, and give them a big Thank You - Not like last time. That includes from the incompetent Mayor of San Juan!" Crying out loud. So Puerto Rico is to blame for being in the path of a hurricane, and the mayor of San Juan deserved a nasty shoutout. Can the man stay away from politics and personal digs for even one minute? As I track the storm, I hope that all in its path stay safe.
67
I hope the upgrades will make PR more resilient this time. Too bad that we don't have a President willing to project his support for these citizens - he has absolutely no gravitas. Even in his "we're there for you" tweet he can't help himself - he has to disparage the mayor and explicitly tell them they better be grateful for the help. He is such a disappointment.
113
@Joy
Forget the US President, who the heck is the Gov. of PR?
Who is in charge?
Where are Ricky Martin, Daddy Yankee, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Bad Bunny?
Burning Question: Will the Mayor of San Juan, in the midst of her litany of dire straits and anti-45 statements, have time to get new T-shirts?
https://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2017/09/30/where-did-san-juans-mayor-get-that-custom-printed-help-us-shirt-anyway/
1
It's a tropical storm for crying out loud. if you can't withstand a tropical storm something is obviously wrong with your infrastructure. In the case of Puerto Rico, the mess that is the Puerto Rican infrastructure was revealed by Hurricanes Irma and Maria two years ago. Graft, corruption, and political incompetence made Puerto Rico ripe for the devastation that these hurricanes produced. Since then the U.S. has poured billions upon billions into bailing Puerto Rico out and rebuilding. Now, it appears, we will be doing so again.
8
@paul - Two words come to mind. Sandy and compassion.
60
@Shack Do you deny that the politicians of Puerto Rico created their own infrastructure crisis by not updating their electrical grid or enforcing existing building codes? Compassion is merited when people obeyed construction codes and still suffered a loss due to a weather event. Such was the case on the Jersey Shore, and in Houston. Not in Puerto Rico.
4
@paul And the majority of the money was stolen by corrupt contractors, hired by Republicans. Go figure.
7
Why does Donald Trump continue to lie about how much money Congress allocated for Puerto Rico's hurricane relief? He keeps saying $96 million, the largest amount in history. Actually, it was $42 million, of which, ONLY $14 MILLION WAS RECEIVED BY PUERTO RICO. The reason he keeps lying is his low information, educated supporters buy his lies. The essential essence of Trump's marketing approach is to just keep saying it, they will believe it.
108
@William Whitaker Why does Donald Trump continue to lie? It's a lot easier than facing the truth.
30
@William Whitaker
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” Joseph Goebbals
9
@William Whitaker ~
Ahh, the digits and analysis are correct, but your are off by a factor of 1000.
"Despite this grandiose claim, which Trump has repeated on several occasions, Congress has only allocated $42.7 billion in disaster relief for Puerto Rico, federal data shows. Of that amount, the island has received less than $14 billion."
6
Leave it to President Trump to take a political dig and demand a "thank you" as United States citizens prepare for yet another hurricane. What a class act. Let's see how he reacts if Mar-a-Lago gets damaged.
76
@jrinsc
Here's what a real Presidential communication might have looked like:
"As we enter hurricane season and the people of Puerto Rico prepare for Dorian, please know that FEMA will be ready to assist you. This is true for everyone in Florida and Georgia as well, should the storm intensify and hit there. All of you are in my thoughts and prayers, and I will continue to monitor the situation closely so that we are prepared for whatever happens."
62
In the movie made for TV, not in 2019 real life...
9
@jrinsc
Sounds like something President Obama would have said. Sigh.
6
With a dangerous hurricane headed their way, the good people of Puerto Rico now have to endure insults on social media from this grotesque caricature of a man. I do believe and recognize that this is what Trump’s supporters voted for, and want him to do as president, just so long as it’s PR, or Baltimore, or Chicago or anywhere scary like that. Now if it was Texas or Florida mind you... but those are real Americans, totally different.
Trump is a disgrace. And if this is your idea of how a president should act then you need to stop voting. He’s unfit, and so are you.
164
@Keef In cucamonga he doesn’t care too deeply for the Florida panhandle. He siphoned off 150 million for ICE while the people of Mexico Beach and surrounding areas are still suffering from Hurricane Michael.
5
@Keef In cucamonga You wouldn't think Trump could set new standards for tweeting and being filth at this point, but he manages.
3
@Keef In cucamonga There's a fair chance that the hurricane will make landfall somewhere near Mar-A-Lago. And with a new moon, tides could be high as well.
I wonder what will happen to FEMA funding if that should happen.
2
I certainly hope the hurricane misses Puerto Rico. God knows they aren't going to be getting any help from the "president".
26
@Carl Center Jr I'd like it to pound Mar A Lago and wipe it off the map and take bone spurs with it.
5
@Margo Channing You and me both, Margo!
3
Trump slams the mayor of San Juan in his tweet about FEMA preparing for the storm. What a caring, compassionate person he is. He is sickening.
119
From the projected path of Dorian, and in the article, it looks like smaller islands will be sideswiped by the storm, and the main island of Puerto Rico will be barely brushed on the northeast corner. I believe this is one of those many unfortunate times when the media hypes a storm up to be vastly destructive, and it winds up being unimportant.
It remains to be seen whether Florida or Georgia will get hit by a category 2 storm, or weaker, but we'll have to wait a couple of days to be sure. Either way, this is the primary time of year for hurricanes, so everyone in the path really ought to be used to this kind of event.
12
As is often stated by meteorologists, the major danger in a tropical storm is usually flooding from rain. Since Dorian is predicted to be fast moving, and as Dan hints at, the more dangerous eastern side of the storm is not predicted to directly impact PR, the danger potential is reduced. However, preparation for the worst is prudent. News reporting should emphasize that aspect.
20
@Dan Stackhouse Hurricanes a notorious for being unpredictable. A slight change in course could make a huge difference in the impact on land masses. As a resident of Florida I have seen both sides of this equation. People have become blase about the threat of approaching storms, sometimes with horrific consequences. Remember, an ounce of preparedness is worth a pound of recovery!
10
Dear SSA2,
Definitely true, being overly prepared is always a good idea.
Dear Lynne,
Also true, and that's what I was getting at in regards to Florida and Georgia, we still really have no idea exactly where or how hard this will hit, best to be prepared. But, it bugs me a bit that the general area that always gets hit by hurricanes every year, always seems to be baffled that another one is coming their way.
3