Where was Donald Trump during Hurricane Michael's devastation?

Leadership includes being relevant in times of national disasters- but Trump failed
The Las Vegas Sun editorial ~ In 2012 Donald Trump was critical of President Barack Obama because of events occurring post Hurricane Sandy. Yet, in 2018, Donald Trump ignored the suffering caused by the devastation inflicted by Hurricane Michael and he had the ugly audacity to attend his own campaign rally in Pennsylvania, but never mentioned the Gulf Coast storm disaster. 

Friday, Oct. 12, 2018- editorial

On Nov. 6, 2012, Donald Trump issued the following tweet:
“Yesterday Obama campaigned with JayZ & Springsteen while Hurricane Sandy victims across NY & NJ are still decimated by Sandy. Wrong!”

So what was President Trump doing Wednesday after Hurricane Michael slammed into Florida with Category 4 force?

Leading a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

And what was he doing Thursday, as the nation began seeing images of absolute devastation from the hurricane?

Having lunch with - (MaineWriter- "crazy") - Kanye West. (Seemed like a scene from One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest!)

Trump’s hypocrisy knows no bounds. Nor does his disregard for the well-being of anyone but himself. Keep in mind that when Trump bashed Obama in 2012, the tweet came two weeks after Sandy hit the East Coast, and that both Obama and Mitt Romney had just resumed their campaigns after suspending them in the immediate aftermath of the storm. 

Ye,t amid the staggering destruction of Michael, including some communities being completely wiped out, Trump didn’t cancel his campaign event or his lunch.

Then, in an added insult, came Melania Trump’s comment that she was “the most bullied person in the world.” Amazing. With the world filled with real suffering, this is what she thinks about — whether people like her outfits.

This is what Republican leadership means.

The people of Florida should be paying attention. So should all Americans.

Ted Cruz hypocrisy disquafies him from running for President of the United States

Of course, American must absolutely help Texas! 

Americans have a moral and civic responsibility to aid the devastated flood stricken Texans to rebuild their communities, that were recently devastated by flash floods. Sadly, dozens of innocent people lost their lives in the rising bayou waters brought on by torrential rains.

Nevertheless, helping Texas to receive federal help during disaster and recovery operations, following the state's devastating May floods, needs support from the US Congress. Incredulously, Texas Senator Cruz was not among those who supported help for 2012 Hurricane Sandy victims in New Jersey. But now  he wants federal money to help Texas.

Therefore, this message is addressed to Senator Cruz.  

Dear Senator Cruz.  

Maybe you don't know this. Texans are Americans. 

Of course,we all support disaster relief, supported by federal tax money, to help the recent flood victims and property owners to recover from unexpected floods.  

As a matter of fact, Texans are Americans, just like the citizens who live in New Jersey. Do you know that?

As you know, when Hurricane Sandy devastated the East Coast in 2012, you incredulously opposed disaster relief, paid for by the Federal Government, to help the people who lost life and property, as a result of the devastating coastal flooding.  

In my opinion, speaking to you as an American citizen with a US passport....you must recall your unqualified candidacy to run for US President.  Unless you can demonstrate your allegiance to the United States of America, you are clearly unqualified to even consider running for the office.  (I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for whom it stands, one nation under God indivisible with Liberty and Justice for all.)

It's irresponsible of you to oppose New Jersey's need for federal disaster aid, while supporting the same for your worthy Texas citizens.  

I'm calling on you to withdraw your candidacy for the presidency.

MSNBC reports

Ted Cruz adopts a new posture on disaster aid
By Steve Benen

Texas torrential rain this week caused deadly flooding, affecting communities across much of the state. 

According to NBC News’ “at least 23 people died in flooding across the state this week.”

Given the disaster, it’s hardly surprising to see members of Texas’ congressional delegation speaking up in support of federal disaster relief. 

“There are a series of federal statutory thresholds that have to be satisfied. Initially, it appears those thresholds are likely to be satisfied by the magnitude of the damage we’re seeing,” Cruz said while touring the flooding in Wimberley, Texas, according to Texas television station KSAT.

“Democrats and Republicans in the congressional delegation will stand as one in support of the federal government meeting its statutory obligations to provide the relief to help the Texans who are hurting.”

This is, of course, exactly what one expects of a senator after his state is confronted with a crisis. Indeed, note the senator’s specific phrase: “statutory obligations.” For Cruz, it’s not even optional – Americans have a duty under the law to come to Texas’ aid.

But, Cruz took a very different posture in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, when he opposed federal disaster relief.

“This bill is symptomatic of a larger problem in Washington – an addiction to spending money we do not have,” the Texas Republican said at the time. 

“The United States Senate should not be in the business of exploiting victims of natural disasters to fund pork projects that further expand our debt.”

He made no references to “statutory obligations” at the time.

If this seems like a familiar dynamic, it’s probably because it’s far more common than it should be.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), for example, voted against emergency aid to Hurricane Sandy victims, arguing at the time that he didn’t “think Arkansas needs to bail out the Northeast.” But last July, Cotton was quick to seek federal aid for Arkansas when it suffered severe flooding.

And in Colorado, every Republican in the state’s congressional delegation voted against post-Sandy relief, and then every Republican in the state’s congressional delegation wanted emergency funding for their own state in September 2013.

Update: Brian Philips, a senior communications aide to Sen. Cruz, has since said the senator’s opposition to post-Sandy aide was based on what Cruz saw as “pork” in the bill, not opposition to federal assistance itself. Cruz eventually called the federal response “appropriate.” (Oh paaaleeeze.....Cruz never gave a second of sympathy to the needs of New Jersey people who were suffering during Hurricane Sandy....)

American "putt-putt" trains need upgrading American Jobs Act

Superstorm Sandy most vividly demonstrated the need for resilient and redundant (Northeast Corridor) infrastructure. Tunnel flooding under the Hudson and East Rivers caused hundreds of millions of $$$ dollars in damage. Without additional capacity between New York and New Jersey, future closures for those repairs could reduce capacity by as much as 75%. The Plan accounts for fixing damaged assets while building to protect assets at risk. These projects will improve reliability, reduce the severity of service impacts during emergencies, and reduce the costs of recovering from future disasters.

Although I'm not an expert on President Obama's proposed American Jobs Act, I'm pretty sure there's appropriations included to improve our deteriorating US train system.  

As a matter of fact, anything, at all, would improve our nation's putt-putt trains.  Here's an interesting article from The National Journal about projects in the wings.  Maybe Apple stock holders can create a futures account, for the purpose of investing invest in American train systems.  

Honestly? If I had the capital, it's where my money would be looking, to bring about a solid return on investment. Obviously, however, my mythical investment will need to wait until Republicans, who are blocking mass transportation projects with their stupid sequester, are eventually thrown out of office.

Eight Critical Rail Projects from The National Journal

A major rail advisory commission presents a sobering new wish list for the Northeast Corridor over the next five years.
BY ERIC JAFFE, CITYLAB

April 22, 2015 There's a new report out from the Northeast Corridor advisory commission, established by Congress to help improve the most critical stretch of rail in the United States, and it isn't pretty. The commission—made up of officials from states, the U.S. Transportation Department, Amtrak, and commuter-rail agencies—has outlined a "first-of-its-kind" coordinated five-year plan for major projects between Washington and Boston via New York. It's effectively a construction wish list for 2016-2020:

The Northeast Corridor is at an historic turning point. 

The decades since the NEC was placed in public hands have been marked by record-breaking ridership growth — and insufficient capital investment. However, unprecedented collaboration is underway to take responsibility for this vital asset and position the country for a globally competitive economic future. The NEC Five-Year Capital Plan is a united strategy to reverse decades of deterioration and rebuild the nation’s busiest passenger railroad.

The NEC Five-Year Capital Plan – if fully funded – would stabilize a national asset that carries 750,000 trips per day. Decades of federal under-investment mean many assets operate today beyond their useful life – everything from rail and power lines to bridges and tunnels – increasing costly service unreliability every day. The loss of service on the NEC for a single day could cost the country $100 million in added congestion and lost productivity.

Seven million jobs, or one out of three jobs in the NEC Region, are within 5 miles of an NEC station. That proportion may grow as billions of dollars of real estate development projects have recently been completed or are under construction within walking distance of stations like Washington, Philadelphia, Newark, New York and Boston. (Julie's note- this investment would improve Maine's economy too, at least in Southern Maine, where many commuters would likely move if there was reliable train service into northern Massachusetts, especially to Boston.)

Much of the NEC we know today was built by private railroads before the 20th century and passengers rely on 100+ year old infrastructure. The largest and most critical of these assets make up the major project backlog: ten movable bridges, two sets of tunnels, and other major structures that date back as far as 1873. These assets will continue to malfunction and cause delays throughout the NEC until they are replaced.

The NEC Five-Year Capital Plan is a first-of-its-kind joint effort among eight states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Department of Transportation, Amtrak, eight commuter rail agencies, and other stakeholders to integrate the infrastructure investments required over the next five years to reverse decades of deterioration and modernize our shared national asset for future economic growth.

The individual plans of four infrastructure owners and nine passenger rail operators are the basis of the NEC Five-Year Capital Plan. It integrates all types of capital investment, from swapping old rail ties for new, to replacing vital bridges and tunnels. This first-ever region-wide plan reflects unprecedented collaboration in setting mutual goals, sharing information, and coordinating investment.

NEC infrastructure is the beneficiary of investment from many different federal, state, and local sources. However, aggregate funding levels from these traditional sources are far below those required to stabilize infrastructure conditions and prepare the Corridor for the future. The NEC Five-Year Capital Plan identifies these funding gaps and defines how additional resources would build a stronger railroad.

If fully funded, the NEC five year capital plan would create jobs across the country while rebuilding the nation’s most important passenger railroad to promote economic development, grow ridership, and increase resiliency to extreme weather events. (In fact, 35,500 jobs per year, reports the National Journal.)

The NEC carries a workforce that contributes $50 billion each year to the United States gross domestic product. Seven million jobs, or one out of three jobs in the NEC Region, are within 5 miles of an NEC station. The Plan will support these key economic markets with infrastructure, service, and station facility upgrades while putting thousands of people to work.

The NEC is a more than century-old railroad, still hand-operated in places with levers and cranks. The backlog of assets operating well beyond their useful life is staggering and infrastructure components are failing at increasing rates. Loss of the NEC for even just a day would cost nearly $100 million in congestion and productivity losses. The Plan will make progress toward reducing this backlog over five years.

The investment required just to preserve today’s NEC service is immense; but the NEC must also prepare for the future. Recent history demonstrates the need to anticipate extreme weather events and growth in ridership. The Plan addresses these trends with infrastructure projects that will reduce vulnerability to changes in temperature, protect against flooding, and add capacity where needed to maintain and grow service.

(Julie's note- the only fathomable reason why the NEC projects are underfunded, in my opinion, is because there's not enough graft and corruption for Republicans to spread around, in states outside of New England, to attract their votes in support of the funding.)

Mayor Dawn Zimmer of Hoboken Challenges Governor Christie's Lt. Governor to Go Under Oath

I made a point of watching Hoboken New Jersey's Mayor Dawn Zimmer speak on MSNBC this Saturday morning.

She was asked to side with plans favoring a rich developer to please the Governor Christie preferred plan for redevelopment in Hoboken, with Hurricane Sandy relief money as leverage.  

In other words, Hurricane Sandy relief money would be released to rebuild her city devastated by the destructive storm if she supported the Governor's preferential redevelopment plan for a small plot of land in Hoboken. Speaking on the Saturday morning show Up with Steve Kornacki, Mayor Zimmer said, in an exclusive interview  the warning came from Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and Richard Constable, Christie’s community affairs commissioner.

Mayor Zimmer is very credible. She had nothing to gain from risking the telling of the truth and she appeared to be distressed at being put in an untenable position with Governor Christie's staff. 

I believe Mayor Zimmer is telling the truth because she offered to say what she knows under oath and challenged Governor Christie's staff to do the same. In fact, Mayor Zimmer even offered to take a lie detector test to prove she's telling the truth about the quid pro quo and abuse of power.

Zimmer, a Democrat who hasn’t approved the project favored by Christie, said she requested $127 million in hurricane relief for her city, but has so far received only $142,000 to defray the cost of a single back-up generator, plus an additional $200,000 in recovery grants.

"It's not fair for the governor to hold Sandy funds hostage for the city of Hoboken because he wants me to give back to one private developer," she said.  Of course, both Constable and Christie both denied Zimmer’s claims.

But will they take up Zimmer's challenge and deny the claims under oath? Moreover, will they be willing to take lie detector test to back up their denials? 

“I’d be more than willing to testify under oath and – and answer any questions and provide any documents, take a lie detector test. And, you know, my question back to them is, ‘Would all of you? Would all of you be willing do that same thing, to testify under oath, to take a lie detector test?”

The developer of the project, the New York City-based Rockefeller Group, said in a statement to msnbc: “We have no knowledge of any information pertaining to this allegation. If it turns out to be true it would be deplorable.”

Zimmer’s allegations of pressure tactics from Christie’s administration come on the heels of “Bridgegate” – a scandal that erupted on Jan. 8 when emails surfaced showing that Christie aides ordered lane closures on the George Washington Bridge in apparent retaliation for the mayor of Fort Lee, N.J., endorsing the governor’s opponent in last year’s election.

Does any of this sound like a sequel to The Sopranos?  

I'm wondering just how close to reality television The Sopranos stories actually were, when comparing this New Jersey George Washington "bridgegate" and developer scandal to the mobster show's drama? 

Governor Christie, in his obsession with Bruce Sprintsteen, may also have strangely internalized tactics on the popular mobster drama, especially knowing how the plot's location was New Jersey.

It raises the salient spectre of just how close The Sopranos were to the potential candidate Chris Christie, who considered running for the office of President of the United States.

Mayor Zimmer, you may have saved our nation from a fate even worse than the horrific destruction of Hurricane Sandy's flooding in Hoboken.  

God Bless You.

Springsteen Obsession and Governor Christie Bridgegate

There was a time when Governor Chris Christie's obsession with the rock icon Bruce Springsteen was a curiosity. So, what's unusual for a grown man to attend 130 concerts with his favorite rock performer? I guess the Governor could afford to buy a lot of Springsteen's expensive show tickets.

Nevertheless, this teenage era Springsteen obsession has taken a politically damaging turn. Springsteen must be truly fed up with his obsessed fan's mishandling of the George Washington Bridge lane closings, where hundreds of people were put in an avoidable traffic jam on September 11, 2013. Moreover, Springsteen proved it by performing a parody on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Now, Governor Christie's idol has turned on him like a voodoo doll.

We can assume, by this turn of entertainment events, that Bruce Springsteen saw through Governor Christie's immature obsession. One has to wonder about the stability of someone who harbors such an obsession. Most famous people pay attention to high profile fans but, apparently, Springsteen had little to say to Governor Christie. As a matter of fact, it took the intervention of President Obama post the Hurricane Sandy disaster for Springsteen to contact Governor Christie. I seriously doubt this conversation lasted very long. Now, following the Late Night parody, it's highly likely the two men will ever speak again. Certainly, Springsteen doesn't much care about his future relationship with the governor. Yet, Governor Christie must feel like he's been stabbed in the gut. He took a lifetime for Governor Christie to have one conversation with Springsteen and now the super rock star has left an eternally public opinion of his true opinion about the Governor.

Check Bruce Springsteen's official web state to see where The Boss placed his duo performance video with Late Night Jimmy Fallon. They're singing "The Governor Christie Traffic Jam" and it's hilarious.

I suspect the Late Night duo performance will completely dismantle any presidential ambitions Governor Christie might still harbor. Bruce Springsteen will surely allow the now public Late Night video to be used in political campaign adds. Of course, it would be just wonderful if political campaigns didn't have to depend on Bruce Springsteen performances to help educate people about candidates and issues. Unfortunately, the fact is, people who vote respond to emotional appeals more than to reason. Springsteen is an inspirational performer. His song lyrics resonate with the American culture. I believe Springsteen has fabulous instincts about what resonates with Americans. Obviously, Springsteen has a history of knowing exactly how to inspire people with his music and lyrics. YouTube could very well tank Governor Christie's political future, by association with this scandal, faster than any information revealed in subpoenas.  

The Christian Science Monitor's columnist Peter Grier tells the same story.

Grier is asking if The Boss (Springsteen) is Doubling Down on Christie?

First, the back story: This week The Boss appeared on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” in a parody song that poked fun at Christie. The segment began with Mr. Fallon, dressed Bruce-like in jeans and sleeveless shirt, playing the familiar opening notes of “Born to Run,” with new words.

RECOMMENDED: Chris Christie: stuck in a jam

“In the day we sweated out on the streets/stuck in traffic on the GWB,” Fallon sang. “They shut down the tollbooths of glory ’cuz we didn’t endorse Christie.”

Eventually, Springsteen himself strolled onstage, to Fallon’s mock surprise. They were dressed exactly alike.

Springsteen began in a conciliatory manner, singing, “C’mon and let me in/I wanna be your friend/there’ll be no partisan divisions.”

But it went downhill for Christie from there, as Springsteen sang about the highway jammed with peeved-off drivers and so forth.

“Someday governor I don’t know when/this will all end/but till then you’re killing the working man/who’s stuck in Chris Christie’s Fort Lee New Jersey traffic jam!” Springsteen ended.

Applause applause! Bravo!