September 30, 2017

USA: 10,000 Containers Of Supplies Sit In San Juan Due To Union Truck Drivers ON STRIKE And Puerto Rico's Devastated Infrastructure. Geraldo Rivera In PR Challenges San Juan Mayor To Show Him Dying People.

Pres Trump sent out that tweet above on Wednesday SEPTEMBER 20th. 
Pres Trump sent out that tweet above on Tuesday SEPTEMBER 26th.
How and where did San Juan Mayor get this t-shirt she's wearing printed?!
I was happy to see honest reporting coming from this NBC reporter on Tues Sept 26.
The truckers union in Puerto Rico are pissed off because they wanted to take advantage of the catastrophe and get paid big bucks. When the PR Governor refused and signed a law allowing non-union truckers to come and help Puerto Rico get through this crisis, the PR truckers union basically told Puerto Ricans, their own people, they could care less, f**k off, and die. It's painful to listen to this PR union trucker being interviewed. He has no shame. AND ALL OF YOU IN THE MEDIA and celebrities SHOULD BE ASHAMED for blaming President Trump and the United States for the plight of the Puerto Rican people. Extremely powerful Hurricane Irma first leveled Puerto Rico 3 weeks ago when the union truckers decided to go on strike. Then came catastrophic Hurricane Maria to wipe out what was left. (emphasis mine)
DATED THURSDAY SEPT 28, FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Teams have covered 90% of Puerto Rico island. But the media and Progressive Democrats and celebrities who hate President Trump continue to lie to the world that nothing is being done.

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 1:31 PM 0 comments

USA: NFL TN Titans Tight End Delanie Walker Said Fans Upset By Team Demonstrations During The National Anthem Can Stay Home. Kaepernick Donated $25k To Group Named After Convicted Cop Killer.

FOX News
written by Staff
Thursday September 28, 2017

Tennessee Titans tight end Delanie Walker said fans upset by team demonstrations during the national anthem can stay home.

"And the fans that don't want to come to the game? I mean. OK. Bye," he told the Tennessean. "If you feel that's something - we're disrespecting you, don't come to the game."

Walker, who is in the middle of a 2-year $13.3 million contract with the Nashville-based team, said the demonstrations are not intended to be an affront to the military.

"That's not what it's all about," he said. "I've been in the [United Service Organizations]. I support the troops."

"It's about equal rights. That's all everyone is trying to show... that we all care about each other," Walker said.

Coach Mike Mularkey told the paper that he thought it was a team-wide decision to remain in the locker room last week.

But, Jessie James Decker, the country singer and wife of wide receiver Eric Decker, said her husband was not told about the plan.

UPDATE: Walker said he and his family have received death threats since he made comments defending the team's decision to skip the national anthem Sunday.
ESPN
written by Jamison Hensley
Wednesday September 6, 2017

OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Ray Lewis said the Baltimore Ravens chose not to sign Colin Kaepernick after the quarterback's girlfriend posted a "racist" tweet featuring the former All-Pro linebacker and owner Steve Bisciotti.

"We were going to close the deal to sign him," Lewis said on Showtime's "Inside the NFL" on Tuesday night. "Steve Bisciotti said, 'I want to hear Colin Kaepernick speak to let me know that he wants to play football.'"

"And it never happens because that picture comes up the next day."

The Aug. 2 tweet by Nessa Diab compared a picture of Lewis hugging Bisciotti to a scene from "Django Unchained," in which Samuel L. Jackson as a loyal house slave held Leonardo DiCaprio's cruel plantation owner character.

"His girl [Diab] goes out and put out this racist gesture and doesn't know we are in the back office about to try to get this guy signed," Lewis said. "Steve Bisciotti has said it himself: 'How can you crucify Ray Lewis when Ray Lewis is the one calling for Colin Kaepernick?'"

Lewis was asked whether the Ravens would have signed Kaepernick if not for the tweet.

"Then he's flying him to Baltimore," Lewis said. "I am sitting with all three of them and we are all having a conversation about bringing Colin Kaepernick in."

On Wednesday, Ravens coach John Harbaugh didn't directly address Lewis' assertion.

"I'm not exactly sure what all was said. But I can tell you this: I'm way past that," Harbaugh said before practice. "I haven't even thought about that for weeks. Our focus is Cincinnati."

Asked if this is an unwanted distraction, Harbaugh said, "We have two healthy quarterbacks and we're ready to roll."

Kaepernick drew national attention last season when he knelt during the national anthem before games as a protest of social injustice, which he said he will no longer do in 2017.

Ravens coach John Harbaugh brought up the possibility of pursuing Kaepernick at the opening of training camp, when quarterback Joe Flacco informed the team of his back injury. Team president Dick Cass later indicated that the Ravens had direct contact with Kaepernick, who informed Baltimore that he still desired to play.

Ravens officials acknowledged they had consulted with fans and former and current players, as well as sponsors, about Kaepernick.

"Pray for us," Bisciotti said of the team when weighing its decision.

Kaepernick's girlfriend then posted the picture of Bisciotti and Lewis three days later.
my gosh, people don't understand that any person applying for US citizenship is DENIED if they admit they belong to Communist or anti-America groups, OR EVEN ADMIT they agree with Communist or anti-America groups. (emphasis mine)

These uber wealthy people who became wealthy in America hate our country, despise it so much WHILE people are literally dying to get into this country escaping countries these jackholes want to turn us into!
Daily Mail, UK
Colin Kaepernick donated $25,000 to group named after convicted cop killer and former Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur who broke out of jail and fled to Cuba
written by Keith Griffith
Friday September 29, 2017

Colin Kaepernick's $25,000 donation to a charitable group honoring a convicted cop killer has been revealed.

Kaepernick's foundation made the donation to Chicago-based Assata's Daughters, named after former Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur, in April as part of a $1million charitable pledge.

Shakur was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1973 shooting death of New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster and sentenced to life in prison, but staged a daring jailbreak and now lives as a fugitive in Cuba.

Kaepernick, who is well known for his protests against police during the national anthem as a former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, made the donation as part of his pledge to donate $100,000 a month for 10 months to 'organizations working in oppressed communities'.

Assata's Daughters was founded in 2015 to 'develop and train young people, ages 4-19, in the Black queer feminist tradition and in the spirit of Assata,' according to the group's website.

'We prioritize this work to help the current momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement to carry on into the future,' the statement continues.

Kaepernick's foundation specified that $2,500 of the donation would go to Cop Watch, a program that trains volunteers to follow and video police officers.

Another $15,000 is earmarked for 'teen workshops'.

Shakur, whose legal name is JoAnne Deborah Chesimard, has become a revered figure in some activist circles, despite currently lodging on the FBI's Most Wanted list.

A former Black Panther who joined a more militant offshoot of the group, Shakur was already wanted on several charges when Trooper Foerster pulled over a car she was in for a broken taillight.

In a shootout, Foerster was killed and Shakur was wounded. Accounts differ as to whether she or another occupant of the car pulled the trigger, but she was successfully convicted of murder under aiding and abetting laws.

Shakur was sentenced to life in prison, but escaped in 1979 when members of the Black Liberation Army visited her behind bars with concealed handguns, took prison officials hostage and commandeered a van.

Through the two are not related, Shakur was godmother to rapper Tupac Shakur, whose stepfather was convicted of aiding her escape from prison.

Word of Kaepernick's donation, which was first reported by the Washington Times, comes as the 👉 protest against police that he launched last year  👈 creates a national furor.

President Donald Trump last week blasted National Football League players who, imitating Kaepernick's protest, kneel during the national anthem.

Players across the league responded in defiance, amplifying the protest and polarizing their fan base, many of whom saw the gesture as an insult to national symbols.

Shakur is believed to be living under political asylum in Cuba. The FBI warns that she should be considered armed and dangerous.

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 1:01 PM 0 comments

USA: Monsanto Caught Ghostwriting Stanford University Hoover Institution Fellow’s Published Work 😧😠




You need to watch the Omen II movie. I didn't catch this until 10 years ago and I've been watching this movie since it was released in 1978. Thorn Industries is Monsanto. This is not the scene in the video I've shared above that explicitly reveals Thorn Industry intentions. I looked, but no one has uploaded it. I did however find a description of the scene that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up 10 years ago. I've shared this with you below: 
At Thorn Industries, manager Paul Buher (Robert Foxworth) suggests expanding the company's operations into agriculture; however, the project is shelved by senior manager Bill Atherton (Lew Ayres), who calls Buher's intention of buying up land in the process immoral. At Mark's birthday, Buher introduces himself to Damien, invites him to see the plant, and also speaks of his approaching initiation. Buher seemingly makes up with Atherton, who drowns after falling through the ice at a hockey game on a frozen lake the following day. A shocked Richard leaves on vacation, leaving Buher to oversee the agriculture project in principle and returning to find that he initiated land purchases on his own.
CBS, San Francisco bay area local news
written by Hannah Albarazi – Follow her on Twitter: @hannahalbarazi
Friday August 4, 2017

SAN FRANCISCO — Newly-released documents, dubbed the Monsanto Papers, give the public a behind the scenes look into how far Monsanto will go to control public perception, news media and scientific research into the key ingredient in its Roundup product, glyphosate.

The documents, which include internal emails and memos, reveals among other things, how Henry I. Miller, a Robert Wesson Fellow in Scientific Philosophy and Public Policy at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, allowed Monsanto to ghostwrite an editorial he published in Forbes.com and claimed as his own in 2015.

The 2015 editorial attacked the decision by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a branch of the World Health Organization, to classify glyphosate as a probable carcinogen.

For two years, Miller was believed to be the writer of those words. But now, emails between Miller and Monsanto employees show the company wrote the piece and Miller added a couple of words to it prior to publication.

In a statement provided by Monsanto, Scott Partridge the company’s vice president of global strategy, said, “That was a collaborative effort, a function of the outrage we were hearing from many people on the attacks on glyphosate. This is not a scientific, peer-reviewed journal. It’s an op-ed we collaborated with him on.”

Forbes has taken down the post, but a .pdf version of the majority of the article is below. Forbes said they have terminated their relationship with Miller, but have not said whether they are reviewing his previous work for the publication.

The Hoover Institution lists its mission as — among other objectives — to “limit government intrusion into the lives of individuals.”

Miller has been an outspoken critic of regulations that aim to protect the public from harmful, or potentially harmful, chemicals such as DDT, BPA and glyphosate.

The Hoover Institution did not respond to CBS San Francisco’s request for comment and have not said whether they will be taking any action following the revelation.

The Monsanto Papers are unsealed documents released by a law firm involved in litigation against Monsanto.

The law firm said the documents were obtained during the discovery phase of a multi-jurisdictional litigation pending in federal court in San Francisco. The case has called into question the popular weedkiller’s safety and the company’s practices.

The attorneys who are challenging Monsanto said the documents have been unsealed because Monsanto missed a deadline to file a motion to keep the documents sealed.

“…since Monsanto did not file any motion seeking continued protection of the documents, it waived confidentiality over them,” said attorneys from Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman.

Monsanto maintains that the release of these documents violates a standing confidentiality order and said they filed a legal motion asking for the documents to be removed.

“What you’re seeing are some cherry-picked things that can be made to look bad. But the substance and the science are not affected by this,” said Scott Partridge, Monsanto’s vice president of global strategy.

Last month, California classified glyphosate as a carcinogen. Monsanto has vowed to fight that decision.

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 12:27 PM 0 comments

EGYPT: Egyptian Police Detained 7 People For Allegedly Raising A Rainbow LGBT Flag At Cairo Concert 😧

Deutsche Welle
written by Staff, agencies
Tuesday September 26, 2017

Egyptian authorities arrested seven people on Monday, who they accused of being gay and promoting homosexuality, according to officials who did not want to be named as they had not been authorized to speak to the media.

The officials said the seven people arrested were responsible for raising the rainbow flag at a gig by popular Lebanese rock band Mashrou' Leila. They have apparently also been charged with "public indecency" and "inciting immorality among young people."

The rainbow flag symbolizes the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) movement.

Homosexuality is taboo in Egypt but it is not illegal to identify as gay nor is it expressly prohibited to "promote" homosexuality. Authorities, however, often use offenses such as blasphemy or "debauchery" to justify arresting homosexuals in a country that severely limits free speech. [that's Islamic sharia law. (emphasis mine)]

In April 2016, an Egyptian court sentenced 11 men to jail terms of up to 12 years after convicting them of "debauchery and incitement to debauchery," provoking international criticism.

Egypt's conservative musicians' union said Mashrou' Leila, whose singer Hamed Sinno is openly homosexual, would not be allowed to perform again in Egypt. The group has previously been banned from performing in the Jordanian capital, Amman. [Jordan is an Islamic kingdom. 95% of Jordanians are Islamist. (emphasis mine)]

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 11:51 AM 0 comments

September 26, 2017

MEXICO: Last Week President Trump Sent US Aid Elite Disaster Assistance Response Team That Includes Locally Trained Rescue Dogs To Mexico's Devastated Earthquake Region.



US Dept of State blog
written by Staff
Thursday September 21, 2017

On September 19, 2017 a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Mexico City, the State of Puebla and surrounding areas causing widespread destruction, injuries, and loss of life. As of September 21, there are at least 40 reported collapsed structures, including two schools. Media reports estimate the death toll at 225, but the total is likely to rise given the population density of the affected areas.

U.S. Expresses Condolences and Deploys Disaster Response Team

During a press availability on the margins of the 72nd UN General Assembly Secretary of State Rex Tillerson took a moment to extend condolences to those who have suffered and continue to suffer, from the devastation caused by the natural disasters we have seen around the Western Hemisphere.

Speaking directly to the people of Mexico, Secretary Tillerson affirmed that the United States stands with them in the aftermath of two very bad and massive earthquakes. The Secretary shared, “The President did speak to President Pena Nieto earlier today, expressed his own deep concerns about the situation, also indicated though his immediate deployment of assistance to Mexico City of search and rescue expertise, a team – very large team – of people who are trained for these specific type of circumstances. Immediately he deployed those towards Mexico City with heavy equipment. President Pena Nieto obviously thanked the President for that, said he welcomed and accepted that assistance.”
The search and rescue team President Trump referenced in his conversation with Mexican President Nieto was deployed to Mexico by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on September 20, 2017 in response to urgent humanitarian needs caused by the earthquake. The USAID Disaster Response Team (DART) -- an elite team of disaster experts from USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance and an urban search-and-rescue team from the Los Angeles County Fire Department -- will support the Government of Mexico by conducting damage assessments and coordinating with local authorities and aid groups to bring critical assistance to local people.

Secretary Tillerson noted President Trump assured Mexican President Nieto that there are other ways in which the United States can help and underscored that the United States stands ready to help the Mexican government and people in any way we can. “This, I think, is a real testament to the relationship between the United States and Mexico,” he said.

Assistance to U.S. Citizens in Mexico

The Department of State continues to offer support and assistance to U.S. citizens who are affected by these earthquakes. U.S. citizens in the area should monitor local news reports, follow directions from local officials, and contact their loved ones. For U.S. citizens facing emergencies, please contact the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City by calling 011-52-55-5080-2000. Please note, when in Mexico, you dial 55-5080-2000.

U.S. citizens may also contact the International Red Cross to help locate missing or injured family members at 844-782-9441 or use the International Reconnecting Families Inquiry Form.

To stay informed, U.S. citizens should monitor the Department’s Travel website for emergency alerts and stay tuned to the latest information on safety and security messages by visiting the U.S. Embassy website.

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 4:07 PM 0 comments

USA: Here’s How Much Money the NFL Rakes in From Taxpayers. ‘Communism Will Win’: U.S. Army Infantry Officer Posts Message In Support of Kaepernick. That's BLM Message NFL Defends.

The Daily Signal
written by Jarrett Stepman
Tuesday September 26, 2017

The National Football League is now plunged into politics as players throughout the sport kneel for the National Anthem and President Donald Trump continues to rebuke them publicly.

Undoubtedly, the situation has left many fans and non-fans of the league conflicted or angry.

This fiasco may, however, open the eyes of the public to a serious and generally unchecked issue: billionaire NFL owners sponging enormous amounts of money from taxpayers through crony capitalist schemes.

The fact is that a business that raked in $14 billion in revenue in 2016 is heavily subsidized by local, state, and federal money based on dubious claims about stimulating the economy.

The problem is rampant.

One report in Watchdog.org said that over the past two decades, the NFL has raked in about $7 billion of taxpayer money to spend on stadium renovation and building.

Another study from the Brookings Institution showed that federal taxpayers have subsidized the construction of 36 stadiums at a cost of over $3.2 billion since 2000.

Michael Sargent, an infrastructure expert at The Heritage Foundation, wrote about how sports teams use specially-crafted tax breaks to get the public to finance their massive projects.

“Tax-exempt municipal bonds are typically reserved for public-use projects such as bridges, water systems, and other infrastructure,” Sargent wrote for The Daily Signal. “Yet because of a loophole in the tax code, private-use stadiums can take advantage of this tax break, and have done so prolifically.”

In fact, only a handful of NFL and other major league teams use privately-financed venues to host their games.

It would seem after sinking enormous investments into sports franchises, cities would reap serious financial benefits in return.

But this isn’t the case at all.

Research from George Mason University has shown that not only do communities gain almost no economic benefits from subsidized sports teams, but some findings “indicate harmful effects of sports on per capita income, wage and salary disbursements, and wages per job.”

Recently-released polls show that National Anthem protests are deeply unpopular with the American people, but polls also show that the taxpayer funding of sports is also widely disliked.

When likely voters in Nevada were asked if they favored or opposed using $500 million in taxpayer dollars to fund a stadium for the Oakland Raiders to move to Las Vegas, they overwhelmingly said “no.”

According to the KTNV-TV 13 Action News/Rasmussen poll, 60 percent of Nevada voters opposed the funding, and only 28 percent supported it.

Given the massive discontent over National Anthem kneeling and rampant politicization of the once unifying sport of football, perhaps now Americans will turn a more skeptical eye toward how their sports teams rely on public money and actually do something about it.

There are some in Congress who have taken notice.

“In America, if you want to play sports you’re free to do so. If you want to protest, you’re free to do so,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said in a Tuesday speech according to The Washington Post. “But you should do so on your own time and on your own dime.”

Recent bipartisan legislation on Capitol Hill aimed to strip federal funding from sports teams. A bill sponsored by Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., would prevent teams from using municipal bonds that are exempt from federal taxes.

Rep. Steve Russell, R-Okla., introduced a similar bill in the House.

Lankford said in a statement in June:
The federal government is responsible for a lot of important functions, but financing sports stadiums for multi-million—sometimes billion—dollar franchises is definitely not one of them. Using billions of federal taxpayer dollars for the subsidization of private stadiums when we have real infrastructure needs in our country is not a good way to prioritize a limited amount of funds.
This movement has picked up steam in recent weeks according to Kerry Picket of The Daily Caller.

On Tuesday, Gaetz became the lead sponsor of legislation that would end the tax exempt status of professional sports leagues.

NFL and other sports teams have a deep financial interest in getting taxpayers to pay their bills, so it will take a widespread concerted effort on the part of the public to end this gravy train.

Since NFL billionaire owners have gone out of their way to accommodate millionaire players in standing down for the National Anthem, perhaps taxpaying Americans should start withholding money from the privileged and let them all stand on their own two feet.

Now may be the perfect time to finally do it.
Lawnewz
written by Colin Kalmbacher
Monday September 25, 2017

As the discourse rolls on regarding former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick‘s decision to take a knee during the national anthem–and the movement his protest ignited–support for the blacklisted athlete-cum-activist is sprouting up across the country.

Yesterday afternoon, on Twitter, some of that support came from U.S. Army Infantry Officer and U.S. Military Academy at West Point alumnus, Spenser Rapone.

Rapone posts under the handle @punkproletarian and is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Under the hashtag #VeteransForKaepernick, he tweeted an image of himself raising the left clenched-fist of solidarity, support and resistance as well as the message, “Communism Will Win” taped inside of his West Point uniform cap. Also visible in the photograph is Rapone’s Combat Infantryman Badge–meaning he has fought in active ground combat.

Rapone followed up his initial post with retweeted images of other #VeteransForKaepernick in their combat uniforms.

LawNewz verified the legitimacy of the photograph with Rapone himself. He is currently in the field until Friday and unable to answer detailed questions, but a Medium post authored by the Infantry Officer details some of his views. He wrote, following the murder of socialist Heather Heyer during the Charlottesville neo-Nazi rallies:
The toppling of the Confederate Soldiers Memorial in Durham, North Carolina has sounded the death knell for any and all displays of Confederate aggrandizement in the United States as well as abroad. Yet, the shadow of the Confederacy and its efforts to preserve slavery is not limited to the southern United States.
The response to Rapone’s tweet has been mostly supportive–though some have raised concerns about his personal and job safety–and the image is quickly approaching viral status. He later sought to clear up any confusion by posting another image of himself. This time, sporting a Che Guevara t-shirt underneath his half-buttoned uniform, Rapone tweeted, “In case there was any lingering doubt, hasta la victoria siempre,” a popular slogan attributed to the late Marxist revolutionary, physician, and guerrilla leader who was ultimately killed and captured by the United States’ own CIA.

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 3:24 PM 0 comments

USA: The PR Island Devastated By Category 4 Hurricane Last Week. Puerto Rico Officials Praised The Trump Administration For Maria Response. Media Lying About No Help From President Trump.


Fox Business Published on WEDNESDAY September 20, 2017: FEMA Director Brock Long on how FEMA is responding to Hurricane Maria.

Fox News Published on FRIDAY September 22, 2017: FEMA Director Brock Long shares an update on hurricane disaster response on 'Your World'
Pres Trump sent out that tweet above on Wednesday SEPTEMBER 20th. 
The Washington Examiner

The U.S. military said Tuesday that 80 percent of the electricity transmission system in Puerto Rico and all of the island's power distribution network, which brings power to customers, is damaged from Hurricane Maria.

The Defense Department said only 11 of 69 hospitals in Puerto Rico have fuel or power.

Hurricane Maria's thrashing of the U.S. territory last week left the entire island and its 3.4 million residents without power.

Food, water, and fuel are scarce, and government officials say Puerto Rico could be without power for four to six months.

President Trump said Tuesday the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as first responders and the military, are being deployed to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to "save lives, protect families, and begin a long and very, very difficult restoration process."

Rebuilding Puerto Rico's energy infrastructure will be a challenge because the island's government-run power utility is bankrupt and its electricity grid was already fragile.

PREPA's power plants are 44 years old on average, Reuters reported, compared to the industry-wide average of 18 years.

Puerto Rico derives most of its power from Venezuelan crude oil, and PREPA relied on selling bonds to pay for the imported oil it burned at its aging power plants, which need billions of dollars worth of repairs.

PREPA charges the island's residents high rates, more than any U.S. state but Hawaii, according to the Energy Information Administration.

The power company is also grappling with a manpower shortage. PREPA has lost 30 percent of its employees since 2012 as local residents migrate to the mainland to escape the island's financial woes and a stagnant economy.
Associated Press
written by Danica Coto
Monday September 25, 2017

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s nonvoting representative in the U.S. Congress said Sunday that Hurricane Maria’s destruction has set the island back decades, even as authorities worked to assess the extent of the damage.

“The devastation in Puerto Rico has set us back nearly 20 to 30 years,” said Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez. “I can’t deny that the Puerto Rico of now is different from that of a week ago. The destruction of properties, of flattened structures, of families without homes, of debris everywhere. The island’s greenery is gone.”

Engineers on Sunday planned to inspect the roughly 90-year-old Guajataca Dam, which holds back a reservoir covering about 2 square miles (5 square kilometers) in northwest Puerto Rico. The government said it suffered a large crack after Maria dumped 15 inches (nearly 40 centimeters) of rain on the surrounding mountains and that it “will collapse at any minute.” Nearby residents had been evacuated, but began returning to their homes Saturday after a spillway eased pressure on the dam.

Puerto Rico’s National Guard diverted an oil tanker that broke free and threatened to crash into the southeast coast, said Gov. Ricardo Rossello, and officials still had not had communication with nine of 78 municipalities.

“This is a major disaster,” he said. “We’ve had extensive damage. This is going to take some time.”

The death toll from Maria in Puerto Rico was at least 10, including two police officers who drowned in floodwaters in the western town of Aguada. That number was expected to climb as officials from remote towns continued to check in with officials in San Juan. Authorities in the town of Vega Alta on the north coast said they had been unable to reach an entire neighborhood called Fatima, and were particularly worried about residents of a nursing home.

Across the Caribbean, Maria had claimed at least 31 lives, including at least 15 on hard-hit Dominica.

Mike Hyland, a spokesman for the American Public Power Association, which represents the Puerto Rican power agency, said Sunday that restoration is a long ways off. The organization is working with U.S. Energy Department crews as well as New York Power Authority workers sent down by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to fly over the island and assess damage.

Crews hoped to get helicopters and drones in the air over the next two days to assess the damage, but Hyland said they need to be patient and let the military continue rescuing people before focusing on restoring power.

“We are trying to get an understanding of the extent of the damage over the next 48 hours to then begin to work with our federal partners to get the right crews and equipment down to Puerto Rico,” Hyland said.

Large amounts of federal aid have begun moving into Puerto Rico, welcomed by local officials who praised the Trump administration’s response but called for the emergency loosening of rules long blamed for condemning the U.S. territory to second-class status.

The opening of the island’s main port in the capital allowed 11 ships to bring in 1.6 million gallons of water, 23,000 cots, dozens of generators and food. Dozens more shipments are expected in upcoming days.

The federal aid effort is racing to stem a growing humanitarian crisis in towns left without fresh water, fuel, electricity or phone service. Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is in charge of the relief effort, said they would take satellite phones to all of Puerto Rico’s towns and cities, more than half of which were cut off following Maria’s devastating crossing of Puerto Rico on Wednesday.

The island’s infrastructure was in sorry shape long before Maria struck. A $73 billion debt crisis has left agencies like the state power company broke. As a result the power company abandoned most basic maintenance in recent years, leaving the island subject to regular blackouts.

A federal control board overseeing Puerto Rico’s finances authorized up to $1 billion in local funds to be used for hurricane response, but the governor said he would ask for more.

“We’re going to request waivers and other mechanisms so Puerto Rico can respond to this crisis,” Rossello said. “Puerto Rico will practically collect no taxes in the next month.”

U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez of New York said she will request a one-year waiver from the Jones Act, a federal law blamed for driving up prices on Puerto Rico by requiring cargo shipments there to move only on U.S. vessels as a means of supporting the U.S. maritime industry.

“We will use all our resources,” Velazquez said. “We need to make Puerto Rico whole again. These are American citizens.”

A group of anxious mayors traveled to the capital to meet with Rossello to present a long list of items they urgently need. The north coastal town of Manati had run out of fuel and fresh water, Mayor Jose Sanchez Gonzalez said.

“Hysteria is starting to spread. The hospital is about to collapse. It’s at capacity,” he said, crying. “We need someone to help us immediately.”

Across Puerto Rico, more than 15,000 people were in shelters, including some 2,000 rescued from the north coastal town of Toa Baja. Many Puerto Ricans planned to head to the mainland to temporarily escape the devastation.
USA Today
written by Rick Jervis
SATURDAY September 23, 2017 👈

TOA BAJA, Puerto Rico — People in this storm-torn town waded through muddy water, swept thick mud out of living rooms or drove through thigh-high water crossings in cars that sputtered, stalled and started again.

Nearby, a FEMA response team, with specialists from Indiana, California, Florida and other states, took notes or peered into an iPad GPS. The team was on a reconnaissance mission following Hurricane Maria and one of the first signs of the U.S. government's promised support in the disaster.

"You hear about the destruction, but honestly, until we get out here and see it firsthand, it's hard to frame it all up," said Mike Pruitt, of Indiana, of FEMA's Incident Support Command. "It's absolutely devastating to see what they've lost."

FEMA teams were already in Puerto Rico earlier this month working on relief efforts following Hurricane Irma and sprung into reconnaissance and search-and-rescue missions as soon as Maria's winds died down. FEMA is widely known as the federal disaster recovery agency, but it's also involved in dispatching rescue teams and gathering intel in the first chaotic days of a disaster.

President Trump has declared Puerto Rico a major disaster and pledged the full support of the U.S. government.

On the second floor of a sprawling hotel in San Juan's Isla Verde neighborhood, teams of FEMA officials and search-and-rescue teams from around the USA pecked at laptops or readied backpacks and equipment. The teams rode out Hurricane Maria's fury in the nearby ballroom. Now, the area serves as the command center for federal responders.

The hotel houses 276 rescue personnel, including task forces from Virginia, Florida and California, which do the search and rescues, canine units from California and Missouri, and flight specialists, said Karl Lee, a FEMA Incident Support Team member.

Many of the members worked recent storms such as Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Hurricane Irma in Florida before asked to help in Puerto Rico, he said. It's been such a busy year for disasters that each of the 28 task force teams around the USA, which go into disaster areas to rescue people, have been tapped to help, something rarely done, Lee said.

"It's flushed the system," Lee said. "It's challenging."

On Friday and Saturday, FEMA teams fanned out across this flood-ravaged town in inflatable boats and high-water vehicles, searching for stranded residents. The Puerto Rican Emergency Management Agency has called Toa Baja, a coastal town 20 miles west of San Juan, one of the hardest-hit areas of the storm, with 2,000 displaced residents and at least eight drownings.

It was hit first by Maria's monstrous winds then water from the overflowing Rio Plata and finally by water released from a nearby dam that was threatening to breach, local officials said.

Residents scrambled onto roofs as more than 9 feet of water pushed into some areas. People fled to makeshift shelters and have been sleeping in local schools and the bleachers of ballparks.

On Saturday, some residents waved or let out small cheers when they saw a convoy of FEMA teams, including Virginia and Florida task force teams, being driven in high-water vehicles by members of the Puerto Rican National Guard.

"Long live USA!" one shirtless man yelled.

Johanna Ortega, 41, a resident whose house took on 6 feet of water, said the convoy was the first sign of help they've seen since the floods. "Nothing's working, we don't hear from anyone," she said. "We feel abandoned."

Another response team, Virginia Task Force 1, led a convoy to Ponce, on the southern edge of the island Wednesday. With Maria's remnants still whipping at them, the convoy of six Jeep Wranglers trudged through flooded highways and damaged roads. The usual hour-and-a-half drive took five hours, said Rob Schoenberger of Fairfax County, Va., who led the mission.

They were the first first-responders to emerge in the region following the storm. The local state police unit was so happy to see them they escorted them into town and showed them where to refill their gas tanks, he said.

Though roofs had blown off and trees and debris littered the street, overall Ponce fared well from the storm, Schoenberger said. There were no reports of mass casualty or signs of widespread destruction.

Schoenberger, who rescued Houston flood victims during Harvey, said Puerto Rico's destruction is unique in how a lack of communication has gripped the entire island - and how the storm impacted essentially every corner of the U.S. territory.

"This disaster is as big as this island, end to end," he said. "There is no safe haven."

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 12:14 PM 0 comments

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