Business Insider: 'WE ARE DYING': Puerto Rico mayor says the island is 'inching close to a genocide'
Mayor Carmen Cruz of San Juan, Puerto Rico delivered an emotional message on Friday, amid the logistical difficulties and bureaucratic red tape that has slowed down the hurricane-relief effort on the island/
"We are dying here," Cruz said in a press conference. "And I cannot fathom the thought that the greatest nation in the world cannot figure out logistics for a small island of 100 miles by 35 miles long."
Read more ....
WNU Editor: Puerto Rico's Governor has a different take .... Federal Emergency Response Working Smoothly, Puerto Rico’s Governor Says (US Department of Defense). This type of language from the mayor is completely inappropriate during a crisis like this one. There are thousands of government workers and U.S. military personnel on the ground right now trying their best to help those who are in desperate need, and they have been very transparent on what they are doing (see link here). To accuse these government workers of failing in their job and that Puerto Rico is now on the verge of genocide .... not the message you should send out to these responders who need encouragement ... especially now.
Update: The mayor has her supporters .... Trump called San Juan’s mayor a weak leader. Here’s what her leadership looks like (Washington Post).
I think we are seeing what happens when a modern society loses their internet access, as they huddle around cell towers to try and get in touch with family...or more realistically the cyber world. Definitely something that Cubans didn't have to worry about.
ReplyDeleteMy coworker said cell networks were bad since many towers were down.
ReplyDeleteStill they said when family could not maintain contact via cellphone they did so by Facebook or other means.
This coworker could only speak about what they know about and that was 1/2 of the island where they have family.
Here is a prediction. The San Juan mayor will be a speaker at the Democrat Party presidential convention in 3 years.
paring for disasters seems to be hard to do as given the example of the New Orleans water pumps.
ReplyDeleteSomeone said the sump pumps at New Orleans ran on 50 hz. That seemed unbelievable.
Some of the pumps run on 25 hz.
"essentially turning the turbine into a power converter to help run New Orleans' oldest pumps, which work on an unusual 25 Hz cycle."
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/08/damaged_turbine_repaired_nola.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/NewOrleans/comments/6sirms/are_some_of_the_drainage_pumps_25_hz_motors/
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Preparing for a disaster is a hard things It takes citizens states and the nation.
It is hard to prepare for a disaster when the government wants to spy on you for prepping. In the last 4 years the government stopped doing that, but in 2011 a certain president wanted to make lists.
https://freedomoutpost.com/preppers-the-real-terrorist-or-not/
http://www.theblaze.com/news/2011/12/13/did-federal-agents-really-raid-a-mormon-food-storage-facility/
"'Prepper' Obama: Says nation is on its own, preparing is your 'duty'"
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/prepper-obama-says-nation-is-on-its-own-preparing-is-your-duty/article/2600717
They huddled around facebook.
ReplyDelete"The greatest nation in the world..." We can stop right there. This mayor is either delusional or is grandstanding for political points. Most likely this mayor is delusional.
ReplyDeleteThere are at least 200 or so nations on earth at present. If they were to be ranked from least to greatest, the US is in the bottom third. In other words, below 140. As such, it cannot be clasdified as a great nation and is not even close to being the "greatest."
Puerto Rico has talked about a complete separation from the United States in the past. Maybe had they done so they would have been better able to deal with this situation. The editor is correct in general. This is inappropriate for the mayor to speak in this manner. When a strapped people are doing all they can to help you in spite of the fact they lack the resources to do so, the appropriate response is "thank you." Not to accuse them of genocide.
To use an analogy, there are 30 teams in major league baseball. If America were a major league baseball team, it would be somewhere between 20 to 25, perhaps lower, not a "great" team by any stretch of the imagination and certainly not the "greatest." America's position as a nation state is similar. As with any baseball team, especially bad ones, they try and improve. The same witb America. We try and improve. I can see us becoming "great" some day. Right now America is nowhere close to being great and certainly not the greatest nation as it isn't even great.
In making such an outlandish statement, the mayor is delusional, seeking to fan the flames of anti-Americanism by making such a statement, or is political grandstanding for some other purpose. A way forward for Puerto Rico might be to formally declare independence from the United States. In so doing, this would free up opportunities to deal with the world's top powers and get aid flowing much faster.