From the Bloomberg article:
“Given that there was no certainty where the hurricane would hit, it doesn’t make sense to have readied her [the Comfort] prior to its impact.”
What the heck is this fool talking about? The National Hurricane Center was predicting Maria would hit Puerto Rico as a Cat 4 or 5 for four days before the storm. This was an unwavering prediction.
And the media is not the issue when they report a problem. The attutude has become, "I don’t want to hear it and if you report it, shame on you, you must be making it up or are just out to get me. Uh, no.
Sometimes, I want to shout, stop making this about you, your feelings.
But fractal, don’t you see how easy it’s become to blame the messenger, to distract from real thinking? This is a form of gaslighting or gamesmanship. The solution is to dig for accuracy, not pooh pooh that there’s some conspiracy, wave it off as fake, or toss insults.
And we could focus on the problem and solutions, not get sidetracked on who made her a shirt. Focus.
It’s crazy how differently we think.
I strongly feel that logic and sensibility have largely flown out the window in this country. Too many people seem to read a news article and take its meaning at face value… few ever try and ask the ‘why’ questions, or probe deeper for answers. Too many people assume the media are 100% honest with them, and that they are simply “the messengers”. Baloney, I say!
And I totally disagree with you that the media simply reports the problems. Yes, sure, they report the problems, but they are notorious for leaving out context, which is important for asking the ‘why’ questions. Case in point, the PR news coverage… “X criticizes mayor of PR”… yeah okay, but WHY did X criticize the mayor? That information is left out. What led up to the criticism? Perhaps she criticized him… Perhaps there is truth to X’s criticism… Perhaps we are not hearing the whole story.
When the governor of PR gives an interview where he states he is happy with the government’s response, but the media is reporting something entirely different, choosing instead to side with the mayor of San Juan, as well as leaving out many of the efforts being made by the government, that should make people question what the heck is actually going on. But no, people don’t seem to be probing any deeper… they are just “derrrrrr media tells me government bad… government bad!”
People deserve the truth in situations like this. That’s all I’m saying.
The media selects what they want to report. One example from my own experience. In civil litigation, they report the multi-million dollar verdicts. They almost never report when the defense wins and the plaintiff gets nothing. I’ve seen them walk out of the courtroom as a defense verdict is announced. It doesn’t grab headlines and sell papers.
What’s happening, among some, is wholehearted dismissal of the media for fake news or bias. That’s not probing, either. That’s just as faulty.
“Too many people seem to read a news article and take its meaning at face value.” I’m one who’s constantly telling CC to freaking think, not go for superficial impressions, anecdote, wishful thinking, etc.
Get me reports of progress. Not the spin that, days ago, someone was grateful or appreciative, didn’t bite the hand they hoped would help them.
That was then. Frankly, it makes sense to make nice, early on. But things evolve.
https://www.fema.gov/blog/2017-09-29/overview-federal-efforts-prepare-and-respond-hurricane-maria
I’m curious what San Juan’s mayor has done since the crisis started (aside from making t-shirts). For as much attention as she has been given in the media, I’m not seeing a lot of information on what she actually accomplished.
When dealing with a vengeful person who is in a position to provide or withhold help to you, you might choose to say that person has given a “good response” when they haven’t.
"I’m curious what San Juan’s mayor has done since the crisis started (aside from making t-shirts). "
One thing she sure wasn’t doing was tweeting repeatedly about the NFL in the wake of catastrophic national disasters. 
Makes a t-shirt seem like pretty small potatoes.
No doubt there is stupidity to be found on both sides here, @doschicos . I don’t see how you can think making t-shirts is small potatoes though… I find it to be equally ridiculous. When you are (fake?) crying on national TV that your citizens are starving and hurting for clean water and that transportation of supplies is desparately needed, you shouldn’t be spending your time making t-shirts. I’m sorry but that speaks volumes of this mayor’s true character, IMO.
If anyone doesn’t know what Mayor Yulín Cruz has been doing for the last few weeks, that person is purposely closing their eyes and ears. Her works and image have been splattered everywhere.
For some examples, see: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/30/us/san-juan-mayor-cruz.html?mcubz=0
As for the governor… anyone who has ever been around abusive and/or dependent situations knows the drill: you cannot bite the hand that feeds- even if the same hand beats and deprives you.
From the New York Times:
Mayor Cruz was shown, in a widely circulated photo, up to her waist in sewage-laden water, going around with a bullhorn trying to find people who needed help.
By the way, Mayor Cruz’s house was flooded. She’s sleeping in a shelter.
In a shelter, on a cot.
For one, @fractalmstr, I doubt she personally made the t-shirt, and second, if I was in her shoes, I wouldn’t be above using any trick in the book to bring attention to that matter if it meant getting more resources for my people. Let’s not forget that immediately after the hurricane, very little attention from any corner - White House, media, etc. was being expended on the victims and their needs. As someone with ties to the islands and people still there, it was something I was following blow by blow and the attention just wasn’t there. If a t-shirt, hat, some tears means more attention might have caused more resources both government resources as well as private donations, more power to the mayor. She’s taking a page out of the president’s playbook, is she not? MAGA hats, reality tv tactics, and all. She didn’t invent this kind of stuff.
Who says she’s making t-shirts?
In fact, not aiming this at you, fractal, but I think some comments on this thread say a lot about our own character.
Of course it’s wiser to kiss up.
The links are informative, but I’m looking for more about results than what’s planned, dropped off, or daily teleconferences. And some in the fema links contradicts.
IMO, good optics would have been more in line with the lt. general’s comments in the videos I previously linked. Getting him there earlier and knowing that someone is assessing in a nonpartisan and honest way and will now tackle the situation, was something overdue. Hearing him talk was comforting even though it did draw a big picture of the realistic and immense work in front of the island. Real leadership is apparent when one sees it.
Another thing the San Juan mayor wasn’t doing? Playing golf.
I wish the media would write a story explaining what preparations were made from the beginning. This should include the responsibilities of the Federal Government down to the local government and include private and public organizations and how they work together to recover from a natural disaster.
Here is a FEMA report from IRMA and you can see how the planned to recover and what they had available. You can see how the federal agencies were planning to respond to Irma.
Here is one excerpt from the news release.
“U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) is fully engaged with federal, state, territorial and international mission partners as the command continues its support to the planning, pre-positioning and initial Department of Defense (DoD) response efforts for Hurricane Irma. U.S. Transportation Command is providing a C-17 Globemaster aircraft and the USS WASP is providing two MH-60 helicopters to assist with the relocation of hospital patients from St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. The amphibious ships USS Kearsarge and USS Oak Hill, along with the Marines of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, are positioned in the region and prepared to assist as needed. Embarked aboard ships, the Marine Corps has the ability to rapidly respond with air, ground, and logistics assets when assistance is requested.”
You can see for hurrican Maria, the plan was to use the same ships that were present for Irma, the amphibious ships USS Kearsarge and USS Oak Hill. The ship’s Captain is the first person expected to take Command and Control for the military operations and to start recovery operations and conduct search and rescue also. They have very specific task to complete so that the follow on groups can start using the transportation nodes to bring in supplies, equipment and people.
This teams make an educated SWAG on what are the most likely needed supplies, equipment and the specific types of trained people to bring in first. Remember all these pre-planned items are already in containers and on ships ready to move. It is difficult to identify, gather, pack and ship new, unplanned items. It can be done but takes time.
The military preparations for Irma in Puerto Rico, as reported in that memo, seem small. USNORTHCOM deployed two ships for the Caribbean. Irma was widely expected to be a Cat 4/5 hurricane hitting squarely on an island of 3.5 million Americans. It was expected to be, and was, essentially like a tornado but for the entire island. The preparations seem meager.
Everyone agrees the initial response wasn’t enough. Why not, when we knew what was going to happen?
In “Better Than A Fake Golf Trophy” news today:
Sadly, the details and complexity of this operation wouldn’t really matter to some people (as evidenced by reading this thread).
Sure we understand the complexity of the situation. That’s why it deserved to be tackled head on from the get go. It wasn’t a surprise storm after all. The complexity isn’t an excuse for inaction and minimal resources. How hard is that to understand?