It’s been overwhelming watching TV lately with multiple devastating hurricanes destroying people’s lives. If you’re wondering how you can help, here are links to articles offering some options:
We don’t usually focus on non-political issues, but the need is so massive we can’t not offer people ways to help alleviate the pain. It will be years before people recover, if they’re able to at all. So, we urge you to review the articles, choose a way to help and act.
The following article by Jefferson Morley was posted on the AlterNet website September 7, 2017:
With the election of Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan made a Faustian bargain. They embraced Trump—an impulsive and ignorant man, filled with racial animus—with the hope they could ride his popularity with conservative voters to enact their agenda of tax cuts and deregulation.
Their corruption caught up with them on Wednesday. Trump humiliated the Republican leaders by siding with their Democratic counterparts Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. In a White House meeting, Trump blindsided his allies and endorsed the Democrats’ proposal for hurricane relief and raising the debt ceiling. Continue reading “Trump’s Relationship with Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell Might Just Have Hit Rock Bottom”
The following article by John Haltiwanger with Newsweek was posted on the National Memo website August 31, 2017:
President Donald Trump visited Texas to offer his support after Hurricane Harvey, but he didn’t meet with a single victim of the storm, according to Politico.
The president did, however, remark on the size of the crowd he spoke in front of—in typical Trump fashion: “What a crowd, what a turnout,” Trump said. Continue reading “Trump Didn’t Visit With Harvey Victims While In Texas”
The following article by Philip Rucker and Ashley Parker was posted on the Washington Post website August 31, 2017:
In his first month as President Trump’s chief of staff, John F. Kelly has brought discipline to the White House, sometimes to the frustration of Trump. (Video: Bastien Inzaurralde/Photo: Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)
President Trump spent the final days of August dutifully performing his job. He tended to the massive recovery from Hurricane Harvey. He hit the road to sell his tax-cut plan. And he convened policy meetings on the federal budget and the North Korean nuclear threat. Continue reading “During a summer of crisis, Trump chafes against criticism and new controls”
The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website August 31, 2017:
President Trump has broadcast his involvement in the government response to Hurricane Harvey loud and clear, and been accused of keeping the focus on him as Texans respond to the record storm. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)
President Trump clearly and unmistakably exaggerated the “horror and devastation” he witnessed in Texas. The White House’s response? To pretend words don’t mean what they mean.
Trump tweeted Wednesday morning that he had seen this horror and devastation “first hand.” Continue reading “Trump claimed he witnessed Harvey’s devastation ‘first hand.’ The White House basically admits he didn’t.”
The following article by Abby Baird was posted on the ThinkProgress website August 30, 2017:
Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) came out swinging Wednesday morning, saying on Morning Joe that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is “crap,” and that the Texas senator should apologize for his 2013 vote against a Hurricane Sandy relief bill as Hurricane Harvey tears through Cruz’s own state.
Earlier this week, Cruz defended his vote against Sandy relief, saying that the bill contained too much “pork,” and that two-thirds of the funding bill had nothing to do with Sandy. But Cruz’s characterization of the bill is wholly incorrect, as a number of outlets have noted in recent days. Continue reading “New York and New Jersey Republicans are having none of Ted Cruz’s crap”
The following article by Lisa Rein was posted on the Washington Post website August 29, 2017:
As he toured rising floodwater in Texas on Tuesday, President Trump effusively praised his administration’s Hurricane Harvey response, an effort he began touting on Twitter last weekend even before the storm made landfall.
But not too long ago, the president proposed a budget calling for cuts to some of the federal government’s most consequential efforts to prepare states and local communities and help them recover from catastrophic events such as Harvey. Continue reading “Trump would slash disaster funding to the very agencies he’s praising for Harvey response”
The following article by Anne Gearan was posted on the Washington Post website August 29, 2017:
Mexico has offered assistance in the massive disaster response in next-door Texas, the State Department said late Tuesday, but there has been no decision on whether to accept the help.
The Mexican government made a formal offer of help Tuesday as the United States copes with the effects of Hurricane Harvey, the State Department said in response to questions about Mexico’s role.
It is not clear whether Mexico is offering relief supplies, equipment or money. Any such assistance could put President Trump in an awkward spot, since he has insisted that Mexico would pay for a new border wall he promised as a candidate, perhaps through some sort of reimbursement. Continue reading “Mexico offers hurricane help; No decision on whether to accept it”
The following article by Jenna Johnson was posted on the Washington Post website August 30, 2017:
As rescuers continued their exhausting and heartbreaking work in southeastern Texas on Tuesday afternoon, as the rain continued to fall and a reservoir near Houston spilled over, President Trump grabbed a microphone to address hundreds of supporters who had gathered outside a firehouse near Corpus Christi and were chanting: “USA! USA! USA!”
‘Thank you, everybody,” the president said, sporting one of the white “USA” caps that are being sold on his campaign website for $40. “I just want to say: We love you. You are special. . . . What a crowd. What a turnout.” Continue reading “Even in visiting hurricane-ravaged Texas, Trump keeps the focus on himself”
The following article by Glen Thrush and Julie Hirshfield Davis was posted on the New York Times website August 28, 2017:
In a joint news conference with the president of Finland, President Trump defended his controversial pardoning of the former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio. By WHITEHOUSE.GOV on Publish DateAugust 28, 2017. Photo by Al Drago for The New York Times.
WASHINGTON — President Trump offered a fiery defense on Monday of his decision to pardon Joe Arpaio, the former Arizona sheriff, as Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas last week — and claimed he timed it to attract maximum attention as television viewers were glued to storm coverage. Continue reading “Trump Eyed ‘Far Higher’ Ratings in Pardoning Joe Arpaio as Hurricane Hit”
