Trump’s ‘God Bless the USA’ Bibles Were Made in China, Raising Eyebrows

[webfact]

Puerto Ricans say Trump's disaster response was too slow, too clumsy

By Dave Graham

 

A Royal Caribbean cruise ship is docked in the harbour to take refugees as people wait to board, in San Juan, Puerto Rico September 28, 2017. REUTERS/Dave Graham

 

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Residents of Puerto Rico accused President Donald Trump of being slow to dispatch aid after Hurricane Maria and clumsy in his public remarks once it was clear the U.S. territory had been devastated by the storm.

 

After days of urging, Trump on Thursday temporarily lifted restrictions on foreign shipping from the U.S. mainland to Puerto Rico to move aid more quickly and the Pentagon appointed a senior general to oversee military relief operations.

 

Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello has praised Trump's response but some on the island of 3.4 million people complained it was not fast enough. The Caribbean island has been without power for a week and is suffering shortages of reliable drinking water.

 

Shipping containers with aid have piled up at Puerto Rico's ports and the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Brock Long, acknowledged being dissatisfied also with the federal response.

 

For some Puerto Ricans, comments by Trump about the island's protracted financial crisis, and the amount of attention he has given to other, less pressing, issues while Puerto Rico suffers, just compounds the misery.

 

"He's giving more importance to guys going down on their knees for the national anthem than a humanitarian emergency here," Martha Moreno, 54, a teacher, said outside a convention centre in the capital San Juan.

 

Trump has escalated a controversy over National Football League players refusing to stand during the U.S. national anthem, tweeting about the issue frequently in recent days.

 

TOUGH VISIT?

 

The Republican president might face anger at the federal government's response if he meets the public on a visit to Puerto Rico on Tuesday.

 

Puerto Rican Lara Brown, 42, said she expected "nothing" from Trump's visit and complained that the relief had taken "far too long" to arrive.

 

U.S. presidents have been particularly careful not to be seen underplaying natural disasters since President George W. Bush was widely criticized for mishandling Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

 

Trump was quick to be seen to be coordinating aid when hurricanes Harvey and Irma struck Texas, Louisiana and Florida in recent weeks.

 

After well-received responses to the two other major hurricanes, Trump is battling to show Americans he can handle another natural disaster in a trickier location.

 

"The full weight of the United States government is engaged to ensure that food, water, healthcare and other life-saving resources are making it to the people in need," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Thursday.

 

She said 10,000 federal government relief workers were now in Puerto Rico, including 7,200 troops, and that 44 of the island's 69 hospitals were now fully operational.

 

As Trump began to react to the latest hurricane, he made a reference to Puerto Rico's other big trauma: its $72 billion debt crisis and bankruptcy. "Much of the Island has been destroyed, with billions of dollars owed to Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with," Trump wrote in a tweet on Monday.

 

That struck many Puerto Ricans as insensitive.

 

Puerto Ricans are American citizens who can vote in U.S. presidential election primaries on the island but do not get to vote in presidential general elections unless they move to the mainland.

 

"We're a colony. We don't get to vote for anything in the U.S. but we have to obey every federal law. We're worth nothing to them. We're a debt. We're a liability," said Jomally Fernandez, 40, a Puerto Rican who lives on the mainland and was in San Juan with her family.

 

Her father-in-law Ken Van Etten, 69, a Vietnam veteran, sharply criticized Trump’s response to the hurricane.

 

“I really doubt whether he gives a damn. When he makes statements like, 'Well it’s not our fault, their infrastructure is poor and they have lost a lot of money.' What does that have to do with anything right now?" said Van Etten, who lives in Oregon.

 

Carolina Racines, 39, was preparing to leave the island temporarily with her Puerto Rican husband, two children and dog on a cruise ship.

 

"I hope that (Trump) will stop saying that everything is fine here and that things are moving along," said Racines, a Colombian who has lived in Puerto Rico for 14 years.

 

(Reporting by Dave Graham; Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York and Roberta Rampton in Washington; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-09-29

[Somtamnication]

He was too busy tweeting at 3 o'clock in the morning. 

[khwaibah]

He took lessons from W on how to fork up a cluster fork over Hurricane Katrina. Typical GOP wannabe leadership.

[Scott]

A nasty troll post has been removed.  

 

 

[tomwct]

Puerto Rico is very similar to Thailand. Very poor infrastructure. Most homes are wood with tin roofs and very poorly constructed. Corrupt governments over the past 40 years. And Bankrupt! This is not President Trumps fault! So recovery will be

very slow and long!

Edited September 29, 2017 by tomwct
Add more detail.

[DM07]

6 minutes ago, tomwct said:

Puerto Rico is very similar to Thailand. Very poor infrastructure. Most homes are wood with tin roofs and very poorly constructed. Corrupt governments over the past 40 years. And Bankrupt! This is not President Trumps fault! So recovery will be

very slow and long!

...and this exactly what to do, with humanitarian aid after a natural disaster?

[DM07]

There are more pressing issues, he had to deal with!

For example not-understanding freedom of speech and expression or pondering to the brainless, who also don't understand it!

[ilostmypassword]

Not long ago, Rush Limbaugh claimed that hurricane warnings were part of a liberal conspiracy. Now it turns out that Hurricane Maria may also be in on the plot. It's overwhelmingly likely that lots of Puerto Ricans will be emigrating. And by far their favorite emigration destination is Florida. Another flood of epic proportions is on the way to Florida. This time it consists of Democratic voters.

[FritsSikkink]

3 hours ago, tomwct said:

Puerto Rico is very similar to Thailand. Very poor infrastructure. Most homes are wood with tin roofs and very poorly constructed. Corrupt governments over the past 40 years. And Bankrupt! This is not President Trumps fault! So recovery will be

very slow and long!

Not Trumps fault, I beg to differ:

 

https://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/346335/trump-golf-course-puerto-rico-default-33-million-tax-debt/

[Srikcir]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Trump of being slow to dispatch aid after Hurricane Maria

Trump just did a fast political calculation:

Number PR Senators - 0

Number PR Representatives - 0

Number of Electoral votes - 0

2016 Republican Primary delegate count for

• Marco Rubio - 100%
• Donald Trump - 0%

 

 

[Jingthing]

8 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

Trump just did a fast political calculation:

Number PR Senators - 0

Number PR Representatives - 0

Number of Electoral votes - 0

2016 Republican Primary delegate count for

• Marco Rubio - 100%
• Donald Trump - 0%

 

 

Yes of course, but whatever trump does a significant portion of Puerto Ricans are going to leave and never return. Seriously. Would you? They were already backwards. Now their backwards on steroids.  Mostly to Florida and New York. Puerto Ricans moving to Florida (they're not right wing Cubans) will be politically significant. I would like to see an organized effort funded of course by George Soros to resettle them in ALL swing states, not only Florida. That last sentence was a joke, ha ha. You've heard of Montezuma's revenge? That could be the Puerto Rican equivalent. While we're at it, make Puerto Rico a STATE already! Enough with COLONIES!

Edited September 29, 2017 by Jingthing

[midas]

The situation there sounds dire

 

Cash demand soars in Puerto Rico after hurricane hit ATMs, card systems

 

Quote

 

With electricity and internet down in Yauco, southwestern Puerto Rico, Nancy and Caesar Nieve said they could not access paychecks directly deposited into their bank accounts.

“What are we going to do when we don’t have any cash? The little cash we have, we have to save for gas,” said Nancy.Furthermore, looting has become increasingly common across the island, increasing the danger that deliveries of cash could be intercepted by bands of robbers.

 

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-puertorico-cash/cash-demand-soars-in-puerto-rico-after-hurricane-hit-atms-card-systems-idUSKCN1C22GJ

[Stargeezr]

Peurto Rica and the Carribean Island are all affected by these hurricanes.

   I think that most of them will be needing a lot of help from everyone who

can help them.  Trump and America have a big navy, which could help

by having their ships anchored near the islands in distress and help them

with power and water supplies. More can be done, and I hope it is being done,

but a trip to the Carribean by Trump does not help in anyway except for

photo ops for him and the people with him. If they did not put some supplies

on Airfroce 1 and 2 ,then his visit was no help at all, then shame on Trump and

the people who flew with him.

Geezer

Edited September 30, 2017 by Stargrazer9889

[connda]

Hate to be Captain Obvious here, but this and other natural disasters provide a realistic lesson - don't depend on your government to save you.  If you live in places that are prone to such disasters and  you are not prepared well enough to survive at a least a couple of weeks, ain't nobody to blame but yourself.  

[funandsuninbangkok]

Apparently you can't ba a corrupt, bankrupt, welfare state and smoothly deal with one of the worst hurricanes in history. 

 

Who knew?

[Jingthing]

4 minutes ago, funandsuninbangkok said:

Apparently you can't ba a corrupt, bankrupt, welfare state and smoothly deal with one of the worst hurricanes in history. 

 

Who knew?

PR is not an independent nation.

[Andaman Al]

TRUMP IS A DISGRACE TO THE OFFICE.

 

Quote

Trump sent 18 tweets on Puerto Rico on Saturday. And made things a whole lot worse

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/01/politics/trump-tweets-puerto-rico/index.html

 

The Major, who Trump said had poor Leadership after she criticised the fool from the administration who said the White House response was a good news story, actually - on live TV begs Trump to help her people and take control of the disaster. Trump is a ****** ****** ****** ****** (insert as appropriate) and he makes me feel like I have tourettes syndrome.

 

Quote

The words Trump used are telling. "They want everything to be done for them," he tweeted. "They"? You mean the millions of American citizens in Puerto Rico? And the not-so-subtle suggestion of laziness in Trump's tweets is just more of the same racially coded language that the President has trafficked in since the day he announced his campaign.

 

......................

What Trump is doing -- in his attacks on Yulin Cruz and the media -- is trying to divide the country as a way to deflect blame for his administration's performance.

"They" are lazy and want everything done for them. "They" are being nasty because Democrats told them to. "They" aren't rooting for our first responders. "They" are trying to convince people that our soldiers aren't doing a good job.

Trump's willingness to divide, to turn every situation in which he is questioned or criticized into an "us" vs "them" is well documented by now.