Puerto Rico, San Juan's Mayor and More Media Misinformation

You may have noticed that I rarely talk about news events as they are happening. I follow something my mother taught me a long time ago, after something big happens the first few days are filled with overreactions and misinformation, it usually takes a week for the truth to come out and by then the media has moved on to a new story. The recent hurricanes are proving how true that is. Unfortunately, the corporate media is intentionally using this time to push a political agenda and deceiving to do so.

For purposes of this post I am going to discuss Hurricane Maria and what is happening in Puerto Rico. Lets start with a little background. Puerto Rico is a US territory, not a state. It's citizens are considered United States citizens; however, they have not chosen to be a state. In fact, there is a split on whether or not they wish to be part of the United States or their own country. The reason this matters is that Puerto Rico has a severe debt problem. With a $72 billion debt problem and 45% of the people live below the poverty line, they are unable to borrow any money. This is not a new problem and in fact has been in a crisis point for about a decade. This debt crisis has meant that Puerto Rico has not maintained it's electrical grid. As a consequence hurricane Maria has completely destroyed it's electrical grid and it may cost as much as $17 billion and 6 months to replace it. Two years ago congress discussed the debt crisis and chose to do nothing. That was under President Obama; but, somehow the media ignores this fact. The question becomes how can Puerto Rico possibly rebuild their electrical grid when they can neither declare bankruptcy on their current debt or borrow additional money?

I mention the debt because when President Trump raised the issue, the corporate media attacked Trump for mentioning their debt at all; but, after the immediate problems are dealt with, this will be the big one. Lets put it in the simplest terms, are you willing to pay more in taxes so that Puerto Rico can rebuild their electrical grid? It is that simple. I personally am okay with helping them with the money; but, it is an issue that must be addressed. While we have promised between $7 and $9 billion dollars to help in the relief effort, that will not get their electricity back on line. The $17 billion is in addition to the $7 or $9 billion. It should be noted that the government owned electrical company is already $9 billion in debt and has lost 30% of it's employees prior to the hurricane.

Now lets look at what President Trumps response was to the hurricane. By September 24th ships were already arriving in Puerto Rico with water, food and both military and civilians to assist with the rescue mission. So much supplies have arrived that the ports cannot distribute it. The reason is not the ships, it is the roads and finding truck drivers. Because of the lack of communication, only 20% of the truck drivers have even showed up to move the materials. The corporate media, rather than addressing the real issues, has attempted to say Trump doesn't care and isn't doing anything. Both of which are flat out lies. Another problem with the corporate media is that they are almost ignoring completely the other islands that have been devastated like the U.S, Virgin Islands.

I began my career in government working on emergency preparedness and response. The definition of an emergency is that it is beyond our ability to control. What is going on in Puerto Rico is a catastrophic emergency, it goes beyond the temporary and will only ever be dealt with over a period of years, not days, not weeks, not months. While reading government handbooks on emergency planning I found something truly disturbing. The number one priority for government during an emergency is convincing the public that they have a handle on the situation even if they do not. Politicians when faced with the inability to push that narrative usually result to finger pointing; but, that is nonsense to.

Now we get to the mayor of Puerto Rico. The mayor of Puerto Rico decided to complain that the President mentioned the debt. She showed terrible leadership as right now is the time to address the debt and if it is not addressed then down the road there will be no path to restoring their electrical grid. Food and water are there on ships and more ships are coming; but, the immediate needs revolve around clearing the roads and finding ways to transport food and water and supplies into the rest of Puerto Rico, not just San Juan. They mayor has complained that she does not have the time to meet and coordinate with FEMA. Wow, that did not happen in Houston or Florida after their hurricanes. The mayors job is to meet and coordinate with FEMA so that priorities can be made instead she has chosen to not attend the meetings and personally hand out food, a great photo op but not her job. In fact, FEMA responded to her criticisms by saying that she should come to the meetings. She claims she doesn't have time. Imagine if the mayor of Los Angeles, New York or Houston had refused to attend FEMA planning sessions. Yet, lets blame Trump is the media catcall. Disgusting and dishonest.

Wikipedia - Hurricane Maria. Fact check me then fact check the narrative being pushed by the dishonorable mainstream corporate media.

UPDATE: I wanted to add in this little tidbit.

CBS News - Puerto Rico mayor pleads for help after Hurricane Maria: "People are dying". Rather than doing her job of coordinating relief efforts, the Mayor of San Juan is handing out water bottles and helping people into ambulances. In fact, the article states, "Cruz also said she has to officially request aid in a memo to the agency, which she said she doesn't have time to write." Lets think about that for a second, as Mayor her job is to make the written request, not as a formality; but, because she is responsible for saying specifically what they need. This is not supposed to be a guessing game for FEMA. She also said this, "There's a lot of good faith, but the good faith has to turn into action or people are going to continue to die," Cruz said. "Please, whomever's listening, forget the memos, forget the meetings." In fact the head of FEMA pointed out that she is not coordinating with them or attending the meetings.

San Juan has an emergency management group, you can see their website here. Emergency Management. Apparently, she does not believe it is her job as mayor to hold meetings with this group to make assessments and determine where help is needed the most; but, it is instead her job to hand out bottled water and go on television as often as possible.