quote:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

quote:

ORIGINAL: jlf1961

“Well, maybe from where she's standing, it's a good news story. When you’re drinking from a creek, it's not a good news story. When you don't have food for a baby, it's not a good news story,” Cruz told CNN’s “New Day,” referring to the plight of Puerto Ricans, many of whom have received little or no aid thus far. “When you have to pull people down from their buildings — I'm sorry, but that really upsets me and frustrates me. You know, I would ask her to come down here and visit the towns, and then make a statement like that, which frankly, it is an irresponsible statement.”

“Damn it, this is not a good news story. This is a people are dying story. This is a life-or-death story. This is a 'there's a truck load of stuff that cannot be taken to people story.' This is a story of a devastation that continues to worsen because people are not getting food and water,” she continued. “It is not a good news story when people are dying, when they don't have dialysis, when their generators aren't working and their oxygen isn’t providing for them. Where is there good news here? ... I’m really sorry, but you know when you have people out there dying, literally, scraping for food, where is the good news?”

quote:

The Washington Examiner reported earlier today that the mayor of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico criticized neighboring San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz for "playing politics" after Hurricane Maria. He also praised President Trump for his hurricane recovery coordination efforts.

Guaynabo Mayor Angel Perez Otero says that Mayor Yulin Cruz has been a no show at coordination meetings between FEMA, U.S. military officials, and Puerto Rican leaders.

quote:

"I've seen other mayors participating. She's not," said Perez Otero.

Perez Otero says he has been in constant contact with U.S. officials and is confident that they will provide the very best recovery efforts they can.

quote:

"We are receiving a lot of help from FEMA and the Red Cross...there is lots of help coming to us," adding, "they won't leave until Puerto Rico is good."

Increasingly though, it would appear Mayor Yulin Cruz seized this natural disaster as a political opportunity to score points as a hero for the people of Puerto Rico, despite not actually working with federal agents in recovery effort.

Perez Otero is now the second person today to report that Yulin Cruz has been non-compliant with federal aid.

FEMA administrator Brock Long told CNN today that "the problem that we have with [Yulin Cruz] unfortunately is that unity of command is ultimately what’s needed to be successful in this response"and “what we need is for the mayor, the good mayor, to make her way to the joint field office and get plugged into what’s going on and be successful."

quote:

ORIGINAL: jlf1961

Bounty, answer one fucking simple question.

Why the fuck was US response to the Earthquake in Haiti and the tsunami in the Indian ocean faster than getting relief to Puerto Rico?

Hell, Bush ordered a fucking carrier group on combat operations in the Persian gulf to India for that effort.

It was five fucking days before Trump ordered the USS Mercy dispatched and that was after Hillary Clinton and a number of congressmen of both parties called on him to do so.

In the case of Haiti, it was dispatched within 36 hours.

And do not say it was because Maria was still messing with the east coast. That is the lamest excuse on the book, if the US navy ships cannot deal with a category 2 hurricane at sea, then we need to scrap every fucking ship in the fucking fleet and start over.

Hell, we blew the fuck out of Baghdad airport when we invaded Iraq, but as soon as it was taken, the US air force moved combat air control teams in there and had the airport operating at a level comparable to JFK international within 12 hours, and that included patching the goddamn runways.

Are you going to sit there and say that a hurricane fucked up an airport worse than repeated air strikes with runway cratering bombs?

What about the fact that the Army and Navy have units with the only job of purifying water, complete with portable water purification equipment, have not been dispatched to Puerto Rico, is it really cheaper to send plane loads of bottled water?

Or lets address the fact that every military branch has units that can set up very large portable power generators to run hospitals and could be sent in, and the hospitals are still running on back up power and starting to run out of fuel for those generators.

And then of course there are the trump supporters on this board that say this is all Puerto Rico's fault, they should have stocked up on a month's supply of food and water or the entire 3.1 million of them should have evacuated.

But hey, the whole thing is a democrat party propaganda party.

FYI, the US Air Force has nine active duty Combat Air Control squadrons, there are nine air ports on Puerto Rico, 8 regional that could handle C130 Hercules aircraft, and I can attest that none of those units have been deployed and the large number of 130's are sitting idle. The base 15 miles from my house has four 130 squadrons shooting touch and goes and have been since the day after Maria hit.

Another point, before you try and claim the smaller 130's would not be enough, a 130 can land, unload a full cargo and be back in the air in less than 15 minutes, and in a hot combat zone, they can shave it to 10 (falling mortars and arty tend to be a great motivator for fast work.)

So, 8 airports running nothing but VFR daylight ops, with even half the 130 fleet operating can easily move and deliver 1,120,000 pounds of cargo per day per field.

So, tell me again, why our esteemed president has not utilized the fleet of 130's? or even part of them?

Shit they were used after the tsunami and the Haiti quake.

quote:

ORIGINAL: JVoV

quote:

ORIGINAL: jlf1961

Bounty, answer one fucking simple question.

Why the fuck was US response to the Earthquake in Haiti and the tsunami in the Indian ocean faster than getting relief to Puerto Rico?

Hell, Bush ordered a fucking carrier group on combat operations in the Persian gulf to India for that effort.

It was five fucking days before Trump ordered the USS Mercy dispatched and that was after Hillary Clinton and a number of congressmen of both parties called on him to do so.

In the case of Haiti, it was dispatched within 36 hours.

And do not say it was because Maria was still messing with the east coast. That is the lamest excuse on the book, if the US navy ships cannot deal with a category 2 hurricane at sea, then we need to scrap every fucking ship in the fucking fleet and start over.

Hell, we blew the fuck out of Baghdad airport when we invaded Iraq, but as soon as it was taken, the US air force moved combat air control teams in there and had the airport operating at a level comparable to JFK international within 12 hours, and that included patching the goddamn runways.

Are you going to sit there and say that a hurricane fucked up an airport worse than repeated air strikes with runway cratering bombs?

What about the fact that the Army and Navy have units with the only job of purifying water, complete with portable water purification equipment, have not been dispatched to Puerto Rico, is it really cheaper to send plane loads of bottled water?

Or lets address the fact that every military branch has units that can set up very large portable power generators to run hospitals and could be sent in, and the hospitals are still running on back up power and starting to run out of fuel for those generators.

And then of course there are the trump supporters on this board that say this is all Puerto Rico's fault, they should have stocked up on a month's supply of food and water or the entire 3.1 million of them should have evacuated.

But hey, the whole thing is a democrat party propaganda party.

FYI, the US Air Force has nine active duty Combat Air Control squadrons, there are nine air ports on Puerto Rico, 8 regional that could handle C130 Hercules aircraft, and I can attest that none of those units have been deployed and the large number of 130's are sitting idle. The base 15 miles from my house has four 130 squadrons shooting touch and goes and have been since the day after Maria hit.

Another point, before you try and claim the smaller 130's would not be enough, a 130 can land, unload a full cargo and be back in the air in less than 15 minutes, and in a hot combat zone, they can shave it to 10 (falling mortars and arty tend to be a great motivator for fast work.)

So, 8 airports running nothing but VFR daylight ops, with even half the 130 fleet operating can easily move and deliver 1,120,000 pounds of cargo per day per field.

So, tell me again, why our esteemed president has not utilized the fleet of 130's? or even part of them?

Shit they were used after the tsunami and the Haiti quake.

I believe that there are Constitutional restraints on sending troops to States & territories that don't apply to foreign nations. Meaning our President can freely invade Haiti, but can't send troops to Puerto Rico until they're asked for by the Governor.

Also, if fuel is already an issue, but there are more than ten thousand shipping containers full of food, water, and supplies waiting at the island's ports, then the 130s can't do much to help.

quote:

ORIGINAL: JVoV

quote:

ORIGINAL: jlf1961

Bounty, answer one fucking simple question.

Why the fuck was US response to the Earthquake in Haiti and the tsunami in the Indian ocean faster than getting relief to Puerto Rico?

Hell, Bush ordered a fucking carrier group on combat operations in the Persian gulf to India for that effort.

It was five fucking days before Trump ordered the USS Mercy dispatched and that was after Hillary Clinton and a number of congressmen of both parties called on him to do so.

In the case of Haiti, it was dispatched within 36 hours.

And do not say it was because Maria was still messing with the east coast. That is the lamest excuse on the book, if the US navy ships cannot deal with a category 2 hurricane at sea, then we need to scrap every fucking ship in the fucking fleet and start over.

Hell, we blew the fuck out of Baghdad airport when we invaded Iraq, but as soon as it was taken, the US air force moved combat air control teams in there and had the airport operating at a level comparable to JFK international within 12 hours, and that included patching the goddamn runways.

Are you going to sit there and say that a hurricane fucked up an airport worse than repeated air strikes with runway cratering bombs?

What about the fact that the Army and Navy have units with the only job of purifying water, complete with portable water purification equipment, have not been dispatched to Puerto Rico, is it really cheaper to send plane loads of bottled water?

Or lets address the fact that every military branch has units that can set up very large portable power generators to run hospitals and could be sent in, and the hospitals are still running on back up power and starting to run out of fuel for those generators.

And then of course there are the trump supporters on this board that say this is all Puerto Rico's fault, they should have stocked up on a month's supply of food and water or the entire 3.1 million of them should have evacuated.

But hey, the whole thing is a democrat party propaganda party.

FYI, the US Air Force has nine active duty Combat Air Control squadrons, there are nine air ports on Puerto Rico, 8 regional that could handle C130 Hercules aircraft, and I can attest that none of those units have been deployed and the large number of 130's are sitting idle. The base 15 miles from my house has four 130 squadrons shooting touch and goes and have been since the day after Maria hit.

Another point, before you try and claim the smaller 130's would not be enough, a 130 can land, unload a full cargo and be back in the air in less than 15 minutes, and in a hot combat zone, they can shave it to 10 (falling mortars and arty tend to be a great motivator for fast work.)

So, 8 airports running nothing but VFR daylight ops, with even half the 130 fleet operating can easily move and deliver 1,120,000 pounds of cargo per day per field.

So, tell me again, why our esteemed president has not utilized the fleet of 130's? or even part of them?

Shit they were used after the tsunami and the Haiti quake.

I believe that there are Constitutional restraints on sending troops to States & territories that don't apply to foreign nations. Meaning our President can freely invade Haiti, but can't send troops to Puerto Rico until they're asked for by the Governor.

Also, if fuel is already an issue, but there are more than ten thousand shipping containers full of food, water, and supplies waiting at the island's ports, then the 130s can't do much to help.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Nnanji

Nobody is sitting around saying let the brown people suffer. That's absurd. It's pure political spite.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Nnanji


I wasn't going to say anything because I don't have significant on sight knowledge like jif must have, but you're exactly right. I've sat in the emergency planning room during a disaster and watched my congressman pull his hair out because he could do absolutely nothing until the locals officially asked for help. We don't have that situation with Haiti. Also, as it appears, and you state, there is stuff there but no way to distribute it with the devastation of the infrastructure.

Nobody is sitting around saying let the brown people suffer. That's absurd. It's pure political spite.

quote:

ORIGINAL: jlf1961

I spent the afternoon with a friend that is probably the biggest Trump supporter in west Texas, who also has a son, daughter in law and three grand children living in San Juan Puerto Rico.

This is what he had to say:

We can dispatch a hospital ship , as well as a carrier group, send the entire c130 wing from here, as well as two seabee battalions a day after an earthquake, have National guard troops mobilized in south Texas and florida within 12 hours of two of the worst hurricanes on record, but when it comes to Puerto Rico, instead of believing the mayor of San Juan, the president says the democrats got to her.

Five days to dispatch a hospital ship, and that is the best he can do? We have the best trash haulers in the Air Force here at Dyess and they are asking the same fucking question, why havent we been deployed?

That bastard is fucking with my grandkids.

I have to say though, we got lucky, managed to raise a ham in San Juan who is working with the disaster response and he got news that my friend's family is safe and trying to get off the island.

According to the HAM operators, the majority of the FEMA people are trying to coordinate relief efforts, but a lack of fuel and vehicles are making that difficult at best.

There is a shortage of equipment and people to clear roads, the governor has called up the local national guard units, but since their vehicles were sorta on the island, a lot of them are damaged and need repair.

So, if the US navy has these big ships that can off load amphibious assault craft which can carry troops and vehicles to shore and all they need are beaches, and Puerto Rico is well known for its beaches, where the fuck are the marines?

quote:

ORIGINAL: jlf1961

No cabinet meeting till monday on the situation in Puerto Rico, the president played golf on Saturday?

And Maria hit the island on the 20th.

Okay, the United States had already been hit with two major hurricanes, and a third was aiming at Puerto Rico, and very little done in prestaging supplies and equipment.

The guy that took over the Katrina response called the administration efforts, as in golf game and no cabinet meeting till Monday among other things, bullshit.

Okay, let me get this straight, news reports coming out of Puerto Rico the day after the storm were bad, the officials in Puerto Rico said things were dire, the President does not hold a crisis meeting with his cabinet till the following Monday?

And nobody in the military can make a direct relief response on the island without presidential authorization.

No power, no water, hospitals running on back up generators with limited fuel supplies for those, and the only agencies capable of dealing with those issues happen to be the US military....

You know, I am sorry to say this, but the die hard supporters of Trump defending his lack of action is proof of one thing, they cannot accept the fact that Trump has fucked up royally.

During Katrina relief, I saw Bush supporters criticizing the administration on these boards, and even President Bush figured out that he had dropped the ball and moved to fix the problem by appointing a general and telling him break whatever rules you have to but fix the problems.

quote:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

That is the oath he took when he took office.

Of course, in his defense, the constitution makes no mention of him having the duty to quickly respond to a humanitarian crisis anywhere.

So, he is covered.

quote:

ORIGINAL: AtUrCervix

quote:

ORIGINAL: jlf1961

No cabinet meeting till monday on the situation in Puerto Rico, the president played golf on Saturday?

And Maria hit the island on the 20th.

Okay, the United States had already been hit with two major hurricanes, and a third was aiming at Puerto Rico, and very little done in prestaging supplies and equipment.

The guy that took over the Katrina response called the administration efforts, as in golf game and no cabinet meeting till Monday among other things, bullshit.

Okay, let me get this straight, news reports coming out of Puerto Rico the day after the storm were bad, the officials in Puerto Rico said things were dire, the President does not hold a crisis meeting with his cabinet till the following Monday?

And nobody in the military can make a direct relief response on the island without presidential authorization.

No power, no water, hospitals running on back up generators with limited fuel supplies for those, and the only agencies capable of dealing with those issues happen to be the US military....

You know, I am sorry to say this, but the die hard supporters of Trump defending his lack of action is proof of one thing, they cannot accept the fact that Trump has fucked up royally.

During Katrina relief, I saw Bush supporters criticizing the administration on these boards, and even President Bush figured out that he had dropped the ball and moved to fix the problem by appointing a general and telling him break whatever rules you have to but fix the problems.

quote:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

That is the oath he took when he took office.

Of course, in his defense, the constitution makes no mention of him having the duty to quickly respond to a humanitarian crisis anywhere.

So, he is covered.

I played golf most of last week.

Every one of my customers was well cared for because....my staff does what they do...exceptionally well.

I never had to send one email to my clients telling them that "we're on the job...have no fear"...because....that's what my job was.

And we did it, through my staff....every day.

(Exceptionally well).

Without fail.

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ORIGINAL: ThatDizzyChick

Face it, the fuck-up-in-chief has fucked up again. I mean come on folks, what the fuck do you expect at this point?

quote:

I played golf most of last week.

quote:

ORIGINAL: ThatDizzyChick

quote:

I played golf most of last week.

Yeah? And did you spend the last few years bitching about how much your predecessor played golf and promising that you would not play golf?

Fucking idiot

quote:

ORIGINAL: MercTech

Since the 2008 base closure of Roosevelt Roads and the turning over of all the base facilities to the government of Puerto Rico; the U.S. has had no resources actually on the island to release to the people.
The closest places aid could be sent from were already used up for the areas hit in Florida.
The ports and airports took days to clear so they could receive any aid.
The "ban" on ships going to Puerto Rico was a law reacquiring goods shipped from one U.S. port to another U.S., including territories and protectorates, to be preferentially carried in U.S. ships. This requirement was waived as soon as ports in Puerto Rico were cleared enough to unload any cargo. Meanwhile, U.S. ships had been loaded and were on the way.

You can't get large ships into a port clogged with debris. You can't land an airplane on a runway covered in debris. As soon as the Puerto Ricans cleared the facilities for landing and unloading; aid was delivered.

Meanwhile, Puerto Rico teamsters went on strike for higher wages and U.S. teamsters are being sent to get the supplies out of the ports and to the people. Rescue by Gringo Scab labor, good one P.R. Teamsters local.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/09/30/puerto-rico-teamsters-union-frente-amplio-refuse-to-deliver-supplies-use-hurricane-maria-as-contract-leverage/
http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/30/news/teamsters-union-puerto-rico-hurricane-maria/index.html