It’s also been noted that this number, (4,645) is likely to be an underestimate because of survivor bias....just great, eh?
In case you missed the memo, Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory. They are very much a part of the good ol' U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A.
How did the president of these theoretically United States handle the disaster? Why, he tossed a couple rolls of paper towels to his adoring fans, as though he was Larry Bird at a pep rally. He then blathered some condescending, disingenuous, half-baked nonsense:
“If you looked — every death is a horror, but if you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died, and you look at what happened here with really a storm that was just totally overbearing, nobody has seen anything like this,” Trump said. (source)
Translation: Sure this is nasty BUT Katrina, Bush's big fuck up, was WAY worse! This can't be anywhere near as bad because I'M the president now! So, suck it up – quit yur whining. You don’t have it so bad.Is it raining or is that the vainglorious flop sweat of a catastropically doltish bungler?
1,833 souls were snuffed out in or as-a-result of Heck-of-a-job-Brownie-Bush's handling of Hurricane Katrina. Nearly 5,000 more U.S. citizens are now dead due to Republican incompetence.
45 also blamed Puerto Rico for not doing enough to help itself, making the completely bizarre (given the context), beside the point and utterly heartless statement that:
“billions of dollars owed to Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with.”(source)So, you preening and stunningly useless example of failed humanity, close to 5,000 people are dead now. It's on you, motherfucker!
Would taxpaying U.S. citizens have been left to sink or swim, as it were, if the hurricane hit Palm Beach instead? It's close by but a much paler and wealthier shade of flesh tone so, I kinda doubt it.
How many of our fellow Americans would still be alive if Preznit Snippy von Dipshit had done his damn job?
But sure, let’s continue to engage in the usual right wing shell game, distract-athon. We'll debate Roseanne Barr’s insane racism and Samantha Bee’s accurate (if too honest for the it's-only-OK-when-I-do-it bully set), use of the C word.
Make no mistake, these things ARE worth discussing BUT can we make sure that every goddamn U.S. citizen knows and understands how many deaths the Dotard in Chief's gross imbecility, narcissism, prejudice and ineptitude are causing?
The 4,645 might not be very close to the real number at all, as it appears it was arrived at by polling(!?).
ReplyDeleteThe government did such a bad job down there that nobody has a real number - they polled people. And the government itself grabbed a number that sounds like they didn't even try to come up with a real number.
It's pretty sickening.
Yes, it is. We may never know the precise number but, I feel sure, it's in the thousands rather than the tens.
DeleteI suspect you're right on that, unfortunately.
DeleteIt's one of those deals like the three-fifths compromise -- Republicans count Puerto Ricans as 1/70 of a person.
ReplyDelete😖 ARGHHHHH!
DeleteThe question every taxpaying American should asking themselves "will they be left high and dry?" in the next hurricane, forest fire or volcano. For example, the entire West Coast voted against Trump. California had a fire last year that almost wiped out a prominent city, two three years ago one did; Oregon has a hot volcano pointed at one of its largest cities (Eugene) and nobody in the fifteen years since we noticed and began paying attention has any idea what it's going to do, leaving aside the other barely inactive volcanoes here and in Washington, where no one seems to have any idea what to do about the freeway twixt Vancouver and Seattle flooding four or five times a year because falling rocks raises sea levels. And I'm pretty sure Boston has been washed over by a hurricane a time or two. I'm not sure people grasp the enormity of the potential. Puerto Rico could easily run to ten thousand, transplant that to haunts of my misspent youth: Seattle, Portland, Eugene, Frisco, or New York or Boston. I have a brother in Queens, I doubt Drumpf uck has any love for Queens; my other brother is in South California, he lost a house in that fire last year, and we've lost track of him (not unusual in this family - if he were gone we would have heard), I don't think Drumpf uck gives a fuck - wouldn't surprise me if it giggles when it hears about these things.
ReplyDeleteYes, "it". It isn't human, it is less than sufficiently evolved, it is less than human.
If the West Coast was entirely engulfed in flame, his only concern would be for his properties. Even then, he'd laugh, knowing that A) he's got insurance and B) so many of his impudent "enemies" would be dead.
DeleteSince he doesn't own property here in Massachusetts, he'd be happier than not to see us all washed away. I'm lucky as hell that the Republican governor of this otherwise sane state paid heed during our own March '18, relatively minor, storm and flood.
Puerto Rico could easily be us. Puerto Rico IS us.
"It" -- perfect. Maybe it is the distillation of all the worst qualities of humanity. If aliens exist, I'd hate like hell for them to come here, see him and his complicit and toadying kind and think that THIS is fully representative of our species.
I feel like the biggest sadness is that even if somehow there was nothing that COULD be done when it happened, the callous disregard for it now is what is baffling. Maybe no matter what, those lives would have been lost (I doubt it, but hey - maybe give a tiny bit of credit? Maybe? I don't know) but at least act like you are sad that thousands of lives were lost in a tragedy.
ReplyDeleteI had a co-worker vacationing there when it happened. She's from there and was visiting family. She eventually got out, and for what seemed like forever, she just wasn't okay. It had to be worse than initial reports made it out to be.
The utter lack of compassion, the unwillingness to engage in humanity is horrifying.
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