Tag Archives: Hurricane Maria

national news

Mission accomplished! Trump waives Jones Act

I’ll take all the credit I deserve for this one.

Donald Trump has waived an obsolete and arcane rule that inhibited the free flow of relief supplies to a stricken U.S. territory. The president acted less than a day after an obscure blogger out here in Flyover Country — that would be yours truly — urged him to do so.

He did. Good job, Mr. President.

The Jones Act, enacted in 1920 during the Woodrow Wilson administration, restricts shipping between U.S. ports. It requires ships to be U.S.-owned and that they must comprise crews that are American citizens.

Puerto Rico is in desperate straits. It is without power, potable water, food and other supplies because of the savagery brought to the island by Hurricane Maria. It comprises 3.5 million U.S. citizens who need help — immediately!

The president had signaled an initial reluctance to waive the Jones Act, citing concerns among shipping interests that contended it helps preserve American jobs.

The president, of course, has vowed to “put America first.”

Fine. Then let’s remember that Puerto Ricans are Americans, too. They need the nation’s help. Now. Lifting the Jones Act is a needed boost to a piece of this country in the midst of a serious humanitarian crisis.

national news

Lift the Jones Act and help Puerto Rico

The United States has a humanitarian disaster unfolding and 3.5 million U.S. citizens are being put in mortal peril.

That peril is potentially being exacerbated by an arcane law that needs to be wiped off the books.

Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria. It requires supplies — food, potable water, clothing and goods that fulfill basic human needs — shipped there from the United States of America. But the Jones Act restricts shipping between U.S. ports by requiring shipping to be built by Americans and to have U.S. citizens as its owners and crew members.

Critics of the 1920 Merchant Marine Act suggest that it is inhibiting relief supplies from being shipped to Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory and whose residents are U.S. citizens.

NBC News reports: Signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson two years after World War I ended, the Jones Act was passed as a protective measure against foreign competition, particularly Germany. By restricting domestic trade to U.S.-flagged vessels with U.S. crews, America would always have a robust fleet of boats and sailors on hand in the event German submarines attacked the U.S.

The law has since found backers in the American maritime industry, which says it supports American jobs. Recent presidents from both parties, including George W. Bush and Barack Obama, have touted it as crucial to national security because it reduces America’s dependency on foreign-owned vessels.

Except that it’s now seemingly getting in the way of expediting the shipments of supplies to a stricken piece of this country.

Donald J. Trump is resisting the pleas to lift the law, saying that shipping interests are still strongly in support of it.

Good grief, man! The president has executive authority to act. Lift it, if only temporarily. We’ve got some Americans in serious trouble.

They need help from anyone who can provide it, regardless of their citizenship. Now!

national news

Puerto Rico ‘in the middle of the ocean’?

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Donald Trump today referred to Puerto Rico as “an island in the middle of the ocean.”

I won’t spend a lick of time criticizing the president of the United States over his lack of understanding of where this U.S. territory is located. I do, though, want to call attention to the map I’ve posted here.

Puerto Rico is inside the red circle. It sits on the edge of the Caribbean Sea. To its west is Hispaniola, which comprises the Dominican Republic and Haiti; to its east are the U.S. and British Virgin Islands.

The president’s description of Puerto Rico’s location is meant to highlight the difficulty, apparently, of getting relief supplies to that stricken island. Hurricane Maria battered the island savagely two weeks ago. The entire island is without electricity. It lacks potable water. Its 3.5 million residents — all of whom are U.S. citizens — are suffering terribly.

It’s not in the “middle of the ocean.”

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Where’s the national angst over Puerto Rico?

David Axelrod, the man known around the country as Barack H. Obama’s political guru, posted a fascinating tweet today.

He writes: Why isn’t this huge and growing humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico commanding more attention and action? Too busy on anthems and epithets.

I feel ashamed.

An island with 3.5 million U.S.-citizen inhabitants is without electricity. It is lacking potable water. A major dam is being threatened with complete failure; it might collapse under the weight of the water backing up behind it. Residents are homeless. They are desperate. They are hurting.

And what in the name of humanitarian response are we talking about in the United States of America?

Whether professional athletes should stand while they play the National Anthem. The president of the United States is launching endless Twitter tirades against those athletes, calling them SOBs.

Where, indeed, is the national anxiety over the misery that’s befallen our territorial neighbors in the Caribbean?