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| Desperate message written on a Puerto Rican intersection after Maria. The words under the SOS read "We need water and food." |
Pissed off, because we've just spent three days yelling and screaming about whether NFL players should kneel during the National Anthem, all because Donald Trump forced the issue with his whines.
What those NFL players are protesting is racial injustice. No question, that's very important.
But we have a weather-related crisis going on now. In the United States. Involving Americans who are in very deep shit and so, so need our help.
As we know, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico last week. Some humanitarian aid is flowing in, but the response has been anemic and totally in adequate. Remember, Puerto Rico is part of the United States.
There's no power. No water. More people are going to die in Puerto Rico from the lack of an emergency response than the storm itself. Trump and the rest of the government should be throwing everything they can at Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Instead, Trump complains about kneeling NFL players.
When he finally deigns to bring up Puerto Rico, it's to complain about its bad infrastructure. It's financial mismanagement over the past decade or two.
Forget that, dammit! There are people dying. We should have the island of Puerto Rico ringed with Navy ships, all tossing out food, generators, water, electrical repair crews and everything else.
I hope this isn't because the people of Puerto Rico are too Hispanic-ish for some people's taste.
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yuliz Cruz said this to CBS News:
"Its life or death......People are starting to die already. We need to get our shit together because people are dying. People are really dying. I've put them in ambulances when they're gasping for air."
I suppose that as of today, there are some early signs of Washington getting its shit together, prodded by activists, some Senators who have got Puerto Rico's back and an increasingly hostile press. It shouldn't take that to get aid to the island.
I know, I know, we're already dealing with Harvey in Texas and Irma in Florida, so it's hard to deal with a third major blow. And relief efforts never go without a hitch. But come on, let's get real with Puerto Rico, OK?
Another thing: I'm writing this in late September in far northern Vermont. I can see Canada from my house. Literally.
And the temperature is heading toward 90 for the third day in a row. The temperatures are shattering long-held records. It's oppressively humid. I'm sweating like hell.
This at a time of year that I should be wrapped in fleece and wondering what to do with my frost-bitten tomato plants. This heat wave is unprecedented for Vermont. Much like the 70 degree weather we had in February. And the 70 degree weather we had on Christmas Eve, 2015.
Yes, I get it. The weather always goes off the rails occasionally. And, in terms of Harvey, Irma, and Maria, there have always been big hurricanes and global warming did not "cause" the three huge hurricanes.
But let's get real. I always say it's hard to tease out exactly if and how global warming affected individual weather events, and that's still true.
However, the hurricanes, and the Vermont heat wave, and other strange weather events in recent years have the fingerprints of global warming all over them. The unusually hot ocean water made the hurricanes stronger than they otherwise would have been.
The downpours of Harvey in Texas probably would have been just a bit less intense had there not been more heat in the atmosphere, which can hold more water, which can unleash heavier downpours.
Vermont has always had warm spells in the autumn. But not like this. Perhaps in past decades, it would have been hot today in the Green Mountain State, but not like this.
Yet, we have a U.S. government led by Trump and other people that say global warming is totally imaginary - a conspiracy cooked up by China to ruin our economy, liberals who want to take freedom away from the rest of us, and scientists who want to fleece the government.
If you believe those conspiracies, I've got a hurricane-ravaged island in the Caribbean I can sell you.
The science is settled on this. The politics is not. With the fossil fuel industry and their minions funneling money to the climate deniers in Washington, we're getting no action on this. Just like Puerto Rico is not getting any action in the wake of Hurricane Maria.
I've always been taught that America is a can-do nation. We work incredibly hard. We're amazing innovators. When there's a crisis, we solve it. (My late World War II veteran father was part of the Greatest Generation, and I could see this greatness in him.)
I believe all this remains true about America. We are smart and hard working enough to lead the world out of the threat of global warming through inventiveness, guile, hard work and our culture of freedom and entrepreneurship.
Donald Trump keeps telling us he's going to make America great again. But he and his minions are doing the opposite through inaction in crises from Maria to climate change. I just wish he'd get out of the way and let the rest of us Americans get the jobs that need to get done get done.
Donald Trump wants to divide us for his own personal gain. Millions of Americans want to unite us to make an already great America even better.
Puerto Rico and the rest of the world who are already feeling the effects of climate change are asking: Which will it be?
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