Heckuva Job, Donnie
Puerto Rico, we have learned this week, is a hundred miles long by thirty miles wide, which makes it roughly equivalent to the Willamette Valley, in Oregon, where we grew up. Its population numbers some 3.4 million American citizens, or a half-million more than our home turf. The distance to Miami is around a thousand miles, which will also get you from Eugene to Los Angeles. By air, that’s about two-and-half hours.
Of course, that’s via civilian flight. You can cut that time and distance in half from Guantanamo, in Cuba. We happen to have a naval base there. You may have heard of it.
Among the things our nation asks of its military is to lend a hand during natural disasters. A dozen years ago, Joint Task Force Katrina was created to coordinate efforts between soldiers and FEMA civilians. It was only formed after FEMA was shown to be tragically inadequate to the task, three days after the New Orleans levees failed.
Puerto Rico has been without power and water for nine days. There has been no all-hands relief effort.
Donald Trump spent the weekend at one of his resorts after Puerto Rico’s infrastructure was devastated. He’ll be spending this weekend away from the office as well. Of course, a president takes his job with him, and Trump has devoted significant public attention to matters like proper ceremonial behavior and qualities of failing primary candidates. When he has bothered to mention Puerto Rico, it’s often been to congratulate himself on doing a heckuva job. Just ask San Juan’s mayor!
Yeah, well, maybe not.
Donald Trump clearly has no interest in the fate of 3.4 million Americans, and his administration clearly has no competence to provide relief. This much is sadly to be expected by now, as we are living under the nightmare rule of a mad narcissist who may yet get the rest of us nuked.
What is even sadder — but sadly, after this summer, not surprising — is that there is no groundswell of demand to do something, anything, to get help to millions of desperate Americans. There are no significant logistical issues here. We have a military that can project power around the world. We have ships, we have jets, we have chippers, we have supplies. But we have a president who doesn’t care, a Congress that doesn’t care enough to demand action, and a public that would rather debate appropriate posture during commercial sporting events.
Puerto Rico, and its population, would fit comfortably within the Willamette Valley. And, as it happens, there’s another population of that size that Donald Trump and Congressional leaders do care about, and care about deeply, and have devoted their full attention to this week, whose residents inhabit an iconic valley of their own, one with a gleaming solid-gold dollar sign on a hill.
Because the population of Puerto Rico amounts to one percent of Americans. They’re just the wrong one percent.
Oh Jesus. When I was packing I found some pot. Some pretty fucking potent pot. This packing thing is at a complete standstill and will be for the foreseeable future. And shit. Does pot age like wine, because this shit is strong.
I think that took me 30 minutes to write
I am truly fuckd
Well, at least we don’t have to worry about Puerto Rico not getting enough national attention now.
Oh, JNOV, so excellent.
Also can I just say that I am ENRAGED at 45’s tweets about the Mayor of San Juan.
@RomeGirl: AmeriKKKa’s experiment with fascism isn’t going so well : (
There are no votes for Trump or the @GOP anywhere on that island. It’s that simple.
@RomeGirl: Just when I think Twitler can’t get any lower in gutter, he plumbs new depths. His one-man skill in making me say, “God even Shrub wasn’t this bad,” continues apace.
Those self-proclaimed Xtians who support him have the same blood on their hands.
@¡Andrew!: Our shared boyfriend JTru needs to get the Canadian military to send relief to Puerto Rico. Cuz Trump.
@SanFranLefty: I honestly thought that CaliguBush would be the worst preznit we’d see in our lifetimes… and then the RepubliKKKans shat out Donald Tdumbp.
Starting with Nixon, each successive RepubliKKKan preznit has been even more venal, depraved, sadistic, and idiotic than the last. FSM-only knows whom they’ll nominate next, but either Cobra Commander or zombie Adolph Hitler would be safe bets.
@¡Andrew!: Shrub is as bad it gets in a normal universe.
What’s happened is that we passed through a black hole and now we’re inside the gravitational well.
@nojo: I’ve heard our current situation described as “an historical rupture.” Sounds very Doctor Who.
@¡Andrew!: My reference has long been Wrinkle in Time, where reality suddenly shifts, and everybody moves on as if nothing happened, although everyone knows it did.
Specifically — and this is probably why it stuck with me — it’s a highway tunnel in Portland. Only half the tunnel is no longer there, just solid rock. And everyone just figures that’s how it was built, although nobody can say why you would build a half-tunnel like that. You just accept it and move on, because to acknowledge what it was and what it meant would be madness.
50 more Second Amendment martyrs – but hey, since the shooter was white, “officials have ruled out terrorism as a motive”
/enuf
@SanFranLefty: Schoolchildren. Churchgoers. A gay nightclub. A country music festival.
The only thing that unites us as Americans these days is mass-shooting victims.
It’s always time for Twits ‘n prayers.
If you see that Onion story making the rounds, it’s the same headline and story they run every time this happens. They just change the photo and dateline.
I’m having my issues with satire these days, but it’s still good for expressing sheer despair.
Meanwhile, ICE completes a four day project targeting undocumented people in sanctuary cities like SF, NYC, LA, Denver. Somehow I suspect that all the Irish painters and construction workers who have overstayed their visas and live in the Outer Sunset didn’t get targeted the way the last few remaining brown people in the Mission were targeted. (To the extent there are any left thanks to the insane gentrification by Google-bus riding white tech-bros).
@SanFranLefty: It’ll be a real hoot someday to read US news without being hit with debilitating waves of horror, nausea, and revulsion.
@SanFranLefty: ICE is evil, but I haven’t had a moment to collect my thoughts on that yet. There’s a reason their union strongly supported Trump; they’re not good people stuck in a bad situation.
@nojo:
ICE = Twitler’s SS
@¡Andrew!: Trump to PR official: “So what’s your death count? Sixteen? You can be very proud, only sixteen instead of thousands in Katrina.”
@SanFranLefty: What are the chances he’ll get through today’s visit without shouting “Viva Las Vegas!”? I’d say slim to none.
“Look at this crowd–whatta turnout! Las Vegas was the biggest and most beautiful mass shooting EVER! Not many people know this. Way bigger than Obama’s, believe me. Have a great time–see you at the next one!”
— Twitler probably spewed
@Mistress Cynica: @¡Andrew!: Both of your imagined scenarios are completely plausible.
Meanwhile, Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz is my shero, even more than before.
And Notorious RBG gloriously bench-slaps Gorsuch and gets him to STFU.
Ladies getting shit done.
@SanFranLefty: They’re gonna have the awesomest sistah-hood after they’re declared Unwomen and banished to the Colonies… (like Puerto Rico OMFG it’s happening).
I’ll be waving (swinging?) from the Wall. Stop by and say hai!
Wow, a truly bizarre segment regarding medical bills on the CBC today: “How will you pay when you’re caught in a mass shooting in the US?”
The Canadian insurance will pay for your body to be flown home, but probably not the casket.
Just in case any Canuckistani readers are wondering, jeezus christ.
‘Pro-Life’ Congressman Quits To Spend More Time Begging Girlfriends To Have Abortions
Gotta hand it to Evan Hurst at Brand W. That headline gave me a much needed laugh today.
@¡Andrew!: The fuck? For real on CBC? They’re not on my cable package, but I always enjoy visiting the Sea-Tac area and seeing that they’re part of the local news network potpourri.
Meanwhile, did SanFranLefty say San Juan Mayor is my shero? I’ve now moved on to full-on crush. She wore a t-shirt that said “Nasty” for today’s interviews. As someone who has an elaborate and vast political/feminist t-shirt collection, I applaud her satorial choices.
I want her to run for President in 2020. She will actually make Twitler stroke out.
FEMA has removed “bad stats” from Puerto Rico webpage, such as drinking-water availability. But distribution of paper towels is rising!
@SanFranLefty: After seeing the words “only sixteen” all I could think of is this.
Anyone wanna take bets on which shit-for-brains is getting quit-fired today? Tillerson is the obvious choice, but I’m going out on a limb and think Kelly is a strong possibility as well.
The Twitler regime is like Reverse Survivor, in which the losers are the ones stuck on the island.
Hope everyone’s enjoyed the calm before the storm!
@¡Andrew!: You mean last January?
FLYINGCHAINSAW • TRUMP: MACHINE GUNNING ORPHANAGES AND CONVENTS BY ME IS CONSTITUTIONAL AND SOMETIMES IT MAKES ME ERECT WITHOUT PHARMACEUTICAL ASSISTANCE! Sen. sENEMA has a career ahead of her in giving designer psychedelic enemas to trust-fund…
MANCHUCANDIDATE • TRUMP: MACHINE GUNNING ORPHANAGES AND CONVENTS BY ME IS CONSTITUTIONAL AND SOMETIMES IT MAKES ME ERECT WITHOUT PHARMACEUTICAL ASSISTANCE! @¡Andrew!: She thought three's company. Nope.
¡ANDREW! • TRUMP: MACHINE GUNNING ORPHANAGES AND CONVENTS BY ME IS CONSTITUTIONAL AND SOMETIMES IT MAKES ME ERECT WITHOUT PHARMACEUTICAL ASSISTANCE! Gawd hates SIN, specifically Kyrsten SINema.
¡ANDREW! • TRUMP: MACHINE GUNNING ORPHANAGES AND CONVENTS BY ME IS CONSTITUTIONAL AND SOMETIMES IT MAKES ME ERECT WITHOUT PHARMACEUTICAL ASSISTANCE! So long, Senatard Glitter-trash. I hope she knows how much everyone H8s her :0)
¡ANDREW! • TRUMP: MACHINE GUNNING ORPHANAGES AND CONVENTS BY ME IS CONSTITUTIONAL AND SOMETIMES IT MAKES ME ERECT WITHOUT PHARMACEUTICAL ASSISTANCE! The racist kleptocratic MSM is really gonna have to crank up the bread and circuses now that their…
FLYINGCHAINSAW • TRUMP: MACHINE GUNNING ORPHANAGES AND CONVENTS BY ME IS CONSTITUTIONAL AND SOMETIMES IT MAKES ME ERECT WITHOUT PHARMACEUTICAL ASSISTANCE! @¡Andrew!: Ted Kazinski Sec of Interior Only the DEAD are extreme enough to serve in DONNIE…
¡ANDREW! • TRUMP: MACHINE GUNNING ORPHANAGES AND CONVENTS BY ME IS CONSTITUTIONAL AND SOMETIMES IT MAKES ME ERECT WITHOUT PHARMACEUTICAL ASSISTANCE! @FlyingChainSaw: Department of Health & Human Services: Charles Manson Defense Secretary:…
FLYINGCHAINSAW • TRUMP: MACHINE GUNNING ORPHANAGES AND CONVENTS BY ME IS CONSTITUTIONAL AND SOMETIMES IT MAKES ME ERECT WITHOUT PHARMACEUTICAL ASSISTANCE! @¡Andrew!: Right, the administration's all star line up: Pres: Trump VP: Ted Kaczynski…
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¡ANDREW! • TRUMP: MACHINE GUNNING ORPHANAGES AND CONVENTS BY ME IS CONSTITUTIONAL AND SOMETIMES IT MAKES ME ERECT WITHOUT PHARMACEUTICAL ASSISTANCE! I cannot wait for the Republinazi MAGAt trash to DEMAND that $hitler be allowed to be president…