Right, waive the Jones Act to get oil out. Raise gas prices in the US because hurricane. And then don’t wAive anything to actually help people. Sounds about right.
You can track comfort here: https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=7390478
Still hasn’t left for PR.
On a neighborhood chat board, one of my neighbors is desperately asking for advice on how to get a charter plane to get relatives out of Puerto Rico. She says the situation is quickly deteriorating.
I am so angry about this. There must be someone we can call or something we can do to put more pressure on the government to put the generals in charge?
I read the Pricess cruises is using one of its ship to bring in supplies and to take people off the island.
Jones Act finally waived.
All the reports I’ve seen indicated a total and complete breakdown of the chain of command. Aid workers are there and have no idea what to do because they haven’t been authorized or ordered to do anything. Many interviewed said they felt completely helpless and abandoned- and these are the AID workers!
http://abc7chicago.com/news/san-juan-mayor-people-in-puerto-rico-are-gasping-for-air-/2456904/
For those who don’t know, NORTHCOM, is the military command in charge to coordinate the relief efforts.
Jones Act was waived for a whopping 10 days! Silly. So, the administration caved to criticism and pressure and has made a tiny concession when the reality is it will take months and months to recover. Why put unnecessary roadblock in the way of that process?
Apparently, we are now requiring promissory notes that evacuees will repay their transportation costs and they have to surrender their passports until they do.
Let’s use some logic here…
- A waiver of the Jones Act was requested by the governor of PR and was granted by the current administration.
- The waiver will guarantee the needed equipment to repair infrastructure damaged by the storm and restore emergency services.
- After the 10-day period, the waiver can be extended if needed, DHS spokesman David Lapan told CNN. He said the waiver was approved after it was determined that doing so was in the interest of national defense.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/28/politics/puerto-rico-governor-white-house-jones-act-waiver/index.html
Meanwhile, Pitbull has sent his private jet to Puerto Rico to transport cancer patients to the mainland for treatment. If he can do it, why is the official rescue so tangled?
Pitbull for president! 
If we want to talk logic, what isn’t logical is the foot dragging on getting the Jones Act waiver in the first place. No justification for that. Shouldn’t have taken so long and required so much pressure to do the right thing.
Some more facts regarding the delay in waiving Jones act for PR:
http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/27/news/economy/jones-act-puerto-rico/index.html
Because government rescue operations are often complicated by bureaucracy and exacerbated by the unpredictability of natural disasters, whereas Pitbull is performing one relatively simple task – fly his jet to PR and pick up cancer patients. The scope of each operation here is totally different.
They need to think more like Pitbull and pinpoint a few small moves to help get things going.
For instance, people in hospitals are dying because there is not enough fuel for the generators. If DHS is right and there is “plenty of fuel”, then why isn’t it getting to the hospitals? Figure out why and start delivering it there. Then move on to the next “small” task and pretty soon things are actually getting done.
I know it’s not always that simple but the vast size of an operation is no excuse for it becoming dysfunctional.
If the right people were empowered and given the right resources, I have no doubt it could be done. Either that or our military is in shambles and we should sure hope that the NK situation doesn’t progress to military action.
Everyone knew this was a Cat 5 and knew it’s path a few days ahead of time. Prudence would have dictated more resources and, more importantly, more prompt action.
One prominent Senator has called for an entire repeal of the Jones Act forever. It harms many areas of the nation because it causes very high shipping costs.
coralbrook, several senators have been calling for years. McCain being the loudest.
I see they’ve put a bill on the floor.
DC Chef Jose Andres is on Puerto Rico with a team cooking up huge amounts of food - 10,000 meals a day - to feed folks in less accessible regions - sandwiches, huge vats of paella. I guess he’s done similar in other places through his charity foundation.
https://www.eater.com/2017/9/27/16370432/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-chefs-jose-andres-jose-enrique
https://aleteia.org/2017/09/27/celebrity-chef-jose-andres-is-cooking-10000-meals-a-day-in-puerto-rico/
Not sure why the military’s effort hasn’t been reported but here is one article.
This is a large and difficult logistics problem. First you had to clear the airports and seaports for supplies to be brought in. We also have no understanding of how well the ports are working. Are all the material handling equipment working and do they have operators available 24 hours a day. Remember the civilian people needed to run the airports, seaports and deliver supplies have also been affected by the storms.
Part of the reason that Texas was able to get power up within days to areas in South Texas was that other cities sent their utility crews in to take over and do everything to assist the affected utility companies restore power. These crews would sleep in their trucks so they needed minimal support to get there, help and get out. This didn’t include other cities sending over additional garbage men to help collect trash as people starting cleaning up and needing to throw things away.
PR as an island doesn’t have that luxury where other states can send in self sufficient workers for a few days to fix very specific specialized problems. Every aid worker who goes in, adds to the logistical burden of needing to be supported with food and water and shelter. It will look very bad if the aid workers are eating well when there are thousands of people who are not.
I don’t envy Hawaii if something like this happens there as they are farther away from the continental US than PR.