Somethin’ Is Out of Whack

Michigan snow storms, terrible wind storms, tornadoes and otherwise yucky weather, all have at least one thing in common - a tendency to mess with power lines and such.

It's been my experience, at least, that bad weather conspires to leave people without electricity for a while, sometimes a long while.

But, when that happens, in addition to local DTE workers, we usually see a bunch of out-of-state trucks, loaded with linemen from other utilities, working to restore downed power lines and blown transformers. So, in short order, repairs are completed, and things start goin’ back to normal.

Seems that whole reciprocity thing is not working in Puerto Rico. And, most of the people of Puerto Rico are still without life-sustaining electricity.

And, to top it off, why has an unknown, two-man outfit from Montana “won” a $300 million , no-bid, contact to rebuild Puerto Rico’s hurricane-ravaged power grid?

Indeed. Somethin’ is royally out of whack.

Here’s the story:
Small Montana firm lands Puerto Rico’s biggest contract to get the power back on, Steven Mufson, Jack Gillum, Aaron C. Davis and Arelis R. Hernández, The Washington Post, 23 Oct 2017.

“For the sprawling effort to restore Puerto Rico’s crippled electrical grid, the territory’s state-owned utility has turned to a two-year-old company from Montana that had just two full-time employees on the day Hurricane Maria made landfall.”

“The company, Whitefish Energy, said last week that it had signed a $300 million contract with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority to repair and reconstruct large portions of the island’s electrical infrastructure. The contract is the biggest yet issued in the troubled relief effort.”

“Whitefish said Monday that it has 280 workers in the territory, using linemen from across the country, most of them as subcontractors, and that the number grows on average from 10 to 20 people a day. It said it was close to completing infrastructure work that will energize some of the key industrial facilities that are critical to restarting the local economy.”

“The power authority, also known as PREPA, opted to hire Whitefish rather than activate the “mutual aid” arrangements it has with other utilities. For many years, such agreements have helped U.S. utilities — including those in Florida and Texas recently — to recover quickly after natural disasters.”

“The unusual decision to instead hire a tiny for-profit company is drawing scrutiny from Congress and comes amid concerns about bankrupt Puerto Rico’s spending as it seeks to provide relief to its 3.4 million residents, the great majority of whom remain without power a month after the storm.”

“The fact that there are so many utilities with experience in this and a huge track record of helping each other out, it is at least odd why [the utility] would go to Whitefish,” said Susan F. Tierney, a former senior official at the Energy Department and state regulatory agencies. “I’m scratching my head wondering how it all adds up.” - more -

Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman

When Will WE Have Eyes that See... Ears That Hear?

What will it take for Americans to recover their souls and challenge the Trump Administration's everyday reality distortion?

“The mayors have come to us and they say ‘Mira (Look) Yulín, we have no food, no water, no one has gone to see us,’” she said. “What am I supposed to do? Just say, ‘Oh, go on your merry way because what I have is for San Juan’? Whatever San Juan gets, we make sure to service our people but we make sure that we have enough to share with other people.”

“Rather than dying from a horrendous act of nature, we’re dying from the horrendous inaction of men and women ― of one particular man — because I’ve seen the FEMA people who are out on the field,” she said. “Their hearts go out. They want to do more.”

In response, Cruz Soto said she’s asked the United Nations to stand by Puerto Rico.

San Juan Mayor: It May Be Easy To Disregard Puerto Rico Because We’re A US Colony, Carolina Moreno, Huffington Post, 16 Oct 2017.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico ― A month after Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico, many of the 3.4 million citizens on the island are desperate for aid as they struggle daily to find basic necessities like food, drinking water, medicine and consistent forms of communication.

The island’s capital, San Juan, has fared better than the other 77 municipalities.  But just outside the metropolitan areas, impoverished communities in towns like Canóvanas and Loíza are still impatiently waiting for FEMA or any government aid to arrive four weeks after the storm.

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto, 54, says she has visited towns like Loíza and Comerío outside of her municipality and witnessed bleak scenes, and has called the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to the hurricane inefficient and bureaucratic. She’s also criticized President Donald Trump’s leadership during the current crisis in Puerto Rico.

During a sit-down interview on Sunday, Cruz Soto told HuffPost she has “theories” about why federal aid has been slow to arrive to towns no more than than 30 minutes from the capital. She also painted a picture of the stark conditions Puerto Ricans are facing in the metropolitan area and beyond.

“I have learned in this disaster of a situation many things,” Cruz Soto said. “One is that we will no longer be able to hide our poverty and our inequality with palm trees and piña coladas; and two, that the dialogue, the discourse and what you’re seeing have to go hand in hand.”

“Before you could go somewhere and all these green trees and palms trees would be literally hiding away the more disadvantaged areas of San Juan and of Puerto Rico,” she said. “They are raw there [now] for us to see.”

In San Juan, like on the rest of the island, most residents lead their lives under the sweltering Caribbean heat with no electricity to run air conditioning or fans. Many gather inside some of the small number of businesses with generators but head home as soon as the midnight curfew kicks in. Cell service is spotty at best, but phones are only useful if you’re able to find a place to charge them.

At least 84 percent of the metropolitan area has running water, according to the Puerto Rico government website. But that doesn’t mean much for those living in high-rise buildings.

Please go here for video and the rest of the story.

Want to Help? Please consider: Oxfam Puerto Rico Hurricane Maria Response

Hurricane Maria has had a devastating effect on Puerto Rico. In the days following the storm, clean water, food, fuel, electricity, and health care are in desperately short supply. Despite possessing more than enough resources, the United States has struggled to mobilize a swift and robust emergency response.

Oxfam plans to support local efforts to meet Puerto Ricans' most urgent needs in this disaster as well as advocate in Washington for more and better resources for rebuilding.

Donate now to help us meet the most critical needs. 100% of funds designated for hurricane response will be used to support relief and recovery efforts for affected areas.

What? Puerto Rico a U.S.colony??

More understanding: Please check this New York Times review of Stephen Kinzer's
THE TRUE FLAG, Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire. You might consider reading the book, too.

Thank God for the US Military

Sailors embarked aboard the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20), along with Puerto Rican medical professionals, transfer a patient from Menonita Hospital in Caguas, Puerto Rico, via an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to the “Sea Knights” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 22. Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Ernest R. Scott/U.S. Navy

Dear Mr. President,

Sir, your words and more importantly, your actions - save one - betray your lack of understanding of your duty to your people and the obligations you swore to uphold when you assumed the office of the President of the United States.

Words are important, especially when disaster prevails. They can either inspire to greatness, above and beyond, or they can inject fear into the veins of strong men and women, promoting hopelessness and robbing them of their will to live.

Your words, sir, border on the latter.

But, your lone action, ordering the U.S. military to aid the people of Puerto Rico and appointing U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Jeff Buchanan, commander of Joint Task Force Puerto Rico, well, that is helping our people.

Thank God for the U.S. military. No One Left Behind.

U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Jeff Buchanan, commander of Joint Task Force Puerto Rico, and soldiers from the Puerto Rico National Guard unload a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter carrying critical supplies in Jayuya, Puerto Rico on Oct. 11, 2017. DoD photo

Please go here for the story:

Trump Warns Military, FEMA Could Be Pulled From Puerto Rico, Richard Sisk, Military.com, 12 Oct 2017.

"In a series of Tweets on Thursday, President Donald Trump suggested that Defense Department and FEMA relief efforts in Puerto Rico might be coming to an end -- even as the military expanded its response on the island, which has been battered recently by Hurricanes Irma and Maria."

"Trump renewed his criticism of the island's government for the parlous state of infrastructure before the storms hit and said, "We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!"

"About 90 percent of Puerto Rico's 3.4 million U.S. citizens lack electricity, and only about 64 percent have access to potable water, according to the DoD, but Trump said in his Tweets, "Electric and all infrastructure was disaster before hurricanes."

"He again referred to Puerto Rico's debt of more than $70 billion to bondholders and said Congress must "decide how much to spend" on a bailout."

"At a White House briefing later, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, sought to clarify Trump's remarks.

"Kelly said an immediate pullout of the military and the Federal Emergency Management Agency from Puerto Rico is not under consideration.

"He said Trump's Tweet was "exactly accurate" that the relief effort is not open-ended but added, "This country, our country, will stand with those American citizens in Puerto Rico until the job is done."

"Kelly put no timeline on how much longer the relief effort will continue, but said traditionally in the military, "You are trying very hard to work yourself out of a job."

"He said he is hopeful that a withdrawal could come "sooner rather than later."

"House and Senate Democrats immediately condemned Trump's remarks.

"Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, tweeted a question to the president: "Why do you continue to treat Puerto Ricans differently than other Americans when it comes to natural disasters?"

"FEMA needs to stay until the job is done and right now, it's not even close to done," Schumer said. "There is still devastation, Americans are still dying."

"Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rossello said in a Tweet, "U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico are requesting the support that any of our fellow citizens would receive across our Nation."

"As of Tuesday, three weeks after Hurricane Maria hit the island as a Category 4 storm, the death toll stood at 43, according to island officials."

"The DoD said 13,420 active-duty and National Guard personnel are now involved in the military's response on and offshore, and 92 rotary aircraft and 14 fixed-wing aircraft are operating on the island."

"Their efforts are focused on power restoration; distribution of power generators and food, fuel and water; medical support, route clearance, and aviation support; and continuing work by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in shoring up the badly eroded Guajataca Dam in the island's northeast, the DoD said."

"Of the 69 hospitals on the island, 36 are back on the power grid and the rest are struggling to operate on generators, the DoD said."

"Twenty-nine of 51 wastewater treatment plants are operational and running on generator power, and 78 percent of Puerto Rico's gas stations are now open, it said."

"The hospital ship USNS Comfort is involved in medical support in Aguadilla on Puerto Rico's western tip, and elements of the14th Combat Support Hospital (CSH) are arriving and expected to begin operations in Humacao, west of San Juan, next week."

"U.S. Transportation Command also is keeping assets in San Juan for the possible evacuation of patients to the continental U.S., the DoD said."

"Last week, the Pentagon said the military's commitments, particularly of air assets, in responding to a quick succession of hurricanes in the U.S. and across the Caribbean will have an impact on worldwide deployments into next year."

"At a Pentagon briefing last week, Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the Joint Staff director, said there will be a delay in the planned deployment of additional troops to Afghanistan."

Soldiers with 6th Battalion, 101st General Support Battalion, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) deliver food and water October 3, 2016 to Orocovis, Puerto Rico.Photo by Sgt. Marcus Floyd, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade/U.S. Army

A U.S. Navy MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter with Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron (HM) 14, embarked aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1), prepares to transport concrete barriers to help repair the Guajataca Dam in Quebradillas, Puerto Rico, Oct. 7, 2017. Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Levingston Lewis/U.S. Navy

U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Wesley LaPrarie, assigned to the 821st Contingency Response Squadron, spots a K-loader at Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, Oct. 3, 2017. Photo by Staff Sgt. Robert Hicks/U.S. Air Force

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Kenneth Krowel drops a box of MRE’s to locals from a Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter Oct. 3, 2017, near Utuado, Puerto Rico. Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Eric D. Woodall/U.S. Coast Guard

Life-Sustaining Humanitarianism Trumps Political Gaming

While the Trump administration dilly-dallied, wrestling with an early 1900 U.S. colonial-era law which guarantees profits to U.S. shipping companies, 3.5 million American lives were at stake waiting for help to arrive from the U.S.

Fortunately, the cruise industry did not hesitated.

Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Line, began planning relief efforts before the devastating hurricanes struck the Caribbean. Regardless of island nationality, they are helping the people in dire need, bringing life-sustaining water, food, medical supplies, portable shelters, fuel, generators, and much more.

Mr. President-of-all-of-us, YOU wasted unrecoverable weeks of precious time trying to figure out the best angle for yourself. Finally, a few minutes ago, you did the right thing by ordering an emergency waiver of the Jones Act for Puerto Rico, just as you did for Texas and Florida. Now, shippers from throughout the world can deliver needed supplies. (Note: Mr. Trump made his waiver order of the Jones Act effective for only 10 days. Needless to say, much more time is required.)

Life-sustaining humanitarianism trumps political gaming, Mr. President-of-all-of-us... that is what will help make America Great Again.

Yes, vaya con Dios, Puerto Rico

USNS Comfort

Our President loves diversion twittering to deflect snooping eyes from his lack of leadership and disdain for the “common folk”. This past few days his manufactured compassion centered on respect for the National Anthem prior to professional football games over U.S. citizens… hurting... bad.

Many of our people speak only Spanish and many speak Spanish and English. But all live in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. They are the 3.4 million U.S. citizens hurting because of the devastation brought down on them by Hurricane Maria, which was preceded just two weeks earlier by Hurricane Irma.

Do your job Mr. President of all the people: Commit our abundant resources and help our people.

Cold Comfort: Trump's refusal to send hospital ship tips his plan to abandon Puerto Rico, 
DocDawg, dailykos.com, 26 Sept 2017.

A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.
- U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper

Eight hundred and ninety-four feet long, 106 feet wide, and weighing 69,360 tons, USNS Comfort is a complete ocean-going medical facility with 1,000 patient beds including 80 for intensive care patients. Along with 12 operating rooms she boasts a complete dental clinic, optometry lab and pharmacy, X-ray machines, CT scanners, oxygen and fresh water production plants, capacity to store 5,000 units of blood, laundry operations, and a morgue.

She’s the size of a 20th century supertanker. Indeed, she was a supertanker — the SS Rose City — until purchased by the Navy in 1987 and converted to serve her current lifesaving mission. She and her sister ship in the Pacific, USNS Mercy, are among the rare few assets of the obscenely wealth US military devoted exclusively to saving, rather than taking, lives.

But today, as Puerto Rico and its 3.4 million American citizens slowly die with the island’s hospitals without power and in ruins, Comfort remains snugly berthed in her home port of Norfolk, Virginia.

Why? Because, according to a Pentagon spokesperson, it just won’t fit.

Thomas LaCrosse, the Pentagon’s director of defense support to civil authorities, said U.S. officials discussed deploying the USNS Comfort to Puerto Rico over the weekend but decided that it should stay in Norfolk because it could not get close enough to any port to avoid using helicopter support to get patients to and from the ship.

True enough, the behemoth ship’s deep draft of 30+ feet bars it from San Juan harbor’s 32 to 35 foot channels even at the best of times (and these are far from San Juan’s best times). But, unmentioned in the WaPo article quoted above, that’s nothing new for the Comfort, which routinely anchors a mile or two offshore to serve disaster sites, as it did following Haiti’s devastating earthquake or, again, as it fearlessly did in 2007 in the teeth of a “storm of a decade” off Corinto, Nicaragua, where it anchored 1.5 miles offshore to receive patients. It is such a common fact in the life of this ship of mercy that militaryfactory.com notes as a mere aside that

Comfort has a deep draft and, in many ports, she has to stand offshore at least a mile. To receive wounded, Comfort has a large day-and-night helo pad.

Puerto Ricans, like all other American citizens, should be deeply chilled by the Trump administration’s stubborn refusal to deploy the Comfort, buttressed by such a transparently flimsy excuse. Because if they’re lying about the reason for their decision, then we must ask what the real reason is...and the answer is terrifying.

It can only be this: Trump intends to abandon Puerto Rico at the first opportunity, leaving its 3.4 million American citizens in their current Stone Age hell forever.

--- Or, your holding back a U.S. Navy hospital ship pending your diversionary war with North Korea? - RB

Please go here for the whole story.
Cold Comfort: Trump's refusal to send hospital ship tips his plan to abandon Puerto Rico, DocDawg, dailykos.com, 26 Sept 2017.

--- Late Tuesday, 26 Sept 2017, the U.S. Navy announced that USNS Comfort would be sent to Puerto Rico within five to nine days -  the time required to activate reserve Navy medical staff and provision the ship. - RB

Please see: http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/26/politics/us-military-response-puerto-rico-hurricane-maria/index.html