The Puerto Rico Thread

snoop_doxie said:
Well, Halliburton did not bid, but Zinke's friends company Whitefish got the job.

Here's a glimpse of the job so far.....

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/en...-and-threatens-to-leave/#.WfEWqf4qjmk.twitter

:(
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This is going to be POTUS level ineptitude.

The reason the standard is the power companies doing a shared attack on the problem is... manpower.
As I understand it, with Texas ad Florida, or any other hurricane, within a few days, they plonk 10 or 15 THOUSAND workers on the ground, with heavy equipment.

White fish is bragging they've got 300 people in PR.

The tail of the prior storm's rains were still falling in Houston as some 400 of those large tree trimmer rigs were caravaning into the county. PR's roads are still largely uncleared... did Whitefish plan for that?
Can they accomplish their contracted task in those conditions?

People will continue to get sick because of the delays, and some of them will die. The infrastructure situation should have been, literally... attacked by concerted military construction forces.
People out... earthmovers in. We'll try to have you back home by Christmas.

It should not be handled gently, and be allowed to drag out for 14 months.
And Whitefish doesn't have the logistical experience to play a leading role in that.


I wonder... did we learn exactly nothing from Katrina?
Or did we learn, depending on the nature of the victims, exactly what can be gotten away with? :(
 
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Mycroft said:
This.

I don't personally know what resources are required, but I do know the United States government has experts on the payroll who do know. This isn't anything the Army Corps of Engineers can't handle, it only takes the political will to get them funded and turn them loose.
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But that makes it harder skim off of. That would be counter to everything this administration and the republican party is about.

And do they still maintain that kind of size or has that been outsourced like so much else to independent contractors again to make skimming money easier? Where is Haliburton when we need them?
 
Mycroft said:
This.

I don't personally know what resources are required, but I do know the United States government has experts on the payroll who do know. This isn't anything the Army Corps of Engineers can't handle, it only takes the political will to get them funded and turn them loose.
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"Who do know" hell. There's people in "the business" who live for this kind of thing.

You ever actually talk to a Army Corp of Engineers or Navy Seabee service member? An entire island that needs an infrastructure done quick? This is their "I've been training my whole life for this" moment. They plan for this like Youtube gun-nuts train for the zombie apocalypse.
 
quadraginta said:
Interesting contrast to the Zinke/Whitefish business model.

Trump administration draining the swamp.
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Musk also offers this solar/battery system as a donation, with an option to compensate and make permanent later. Looks like the grid was installed on a parking lot, so they will probably need to relocate anyway.

Why is it that people like Musk and Pit Bull can quickly figure out how to solve immediate problems? The Comfort sits in open water with empty beds- can no one figure out how to get a helicopter there and Medivac patients on board? She has a landing pad.
 
JoeBentley said:
"Who do know" hell. There's people in "the business" who live for this kind of thing.

You ever actually talk to a Army Corp of Engineers or Navy Seabee service member? An entire island that needs an infrastructure done quick? This is their "I've been training my whole life for this" moment. They plan for this like Youtube gun-nuts train for the zombie apocalypse.
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Exactly. This kind of thing is really hard to do, but fortunately, we have people who plan for and train to do really hard things, and they are adaptable enough that even though they weren't trained for this exact scenario, they can wing it, very well.

Even though no one would have been strafing them this time, I'll bet they could have managed it.
 
Thermal said:
Musk also offers this solar/battery system as a donation, with an option to compensate and make permanent later. Looks like the grid was installed on a parking lot, so they will probably need to relocate anyway.

Why is it that people like Musk and Pit Bull can quickly figure out how to solve immediate problems? The Comfort sits in open water with empty beds- can no one figure out how to get a helicopter there and Medivac patients on board? She has a landing pad.
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My understanding is that the issue is that doctors in Puerto Rico are not sure what process needs to be followed in order to get patients on board the Comfort rather than there being no way of physically transporting them there.

Perhaps the questions over Whitefish (whether or not there actually is any impropriety) will get Puerto Rico back in the headline and get the Trump Administration to pull their collective fingers out.
 
The Don said:
My understanding is that the issue is that doctors in Puerto Rico are not sure what process needs to be followed in order to get patients on board the Comfort rather than there being no way of physically transporting them there.

Perhaps the questions over Whitefish (whether or not there actually is any impropriety) will get Puerto Rico back in the headline and get the Trump Administration to pull their collective fingers out.
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I am very confident that a trained Medivac crew, military or civilian, could resolve that in seconds.

And yes, as the death toll continues to rise due to contaminated water and other causes, let's hope that the President's feet are held to the fire and he steps up, whether through humiliation, public outcry, or conscience.
 
Thermal said:
I am very confident that a trained Medivac crew, military or civilian, could resolve that in seconds.
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Maybe

FEMA told CNN.com that the Comfort is being used as a last resort at the end of a long line of steps that must be taken first with patients. They must first go to a local medical facility, then to the medical coordinating center in San Juan. From there, they might be sent to Humacao, where the Army's Combat Support Hospital is located. After that, a patient could be sent to the Comfort.
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https://weather.com/news/news/2017-10-18-puerto-rico-health-crisis-hurricane-maria-usns-comfort
 
Thermal said:
And yes, as the death toll continues to rise due to contaminated water and other causes, let's hope that the President's feet are held to the fire and he steps up, whether through humiliation, public outcry, or conscience.
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So do I, but I fear that his self-assessment of A+ performance protects him from humiliation, public outcry will simply be dismissed as #Fakenews and I have yet to see any evidence of a Presidential conscience. :(
 
quadraginta said:
I thought it was because he had people for that, and they all got fired.

(Or quit, mebbe. Can you imagine having the job of being Trump's conscience?)
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You ever see those commercials for animal shelters, where they show you the picture of the puppy, with a leg missing and half its fur gone, chained (with a short chain) to a pole next to a tiny cardboard box in a chicken wire enclosure, with snow on the ground, barely able to lift its head to look at you sorrowfully?

That's what I imagine the job would be like.
 
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The Don said:
Maybe

https://weather.com/news/news/2017-10-18-puerto-rico-health-crisis-hurricane-maria-usns-comfort
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This is exactly the kind of bureaucratic cock-up that results in empty beds at an emergency hospital. Freaking infuriating.

The Don said:
So do I, but I fear that his self-assessment of A+ performance protects him from humiliation, public outcry will simply be dismissed as #Fakenews and I have yet to see any evidence of a Presidential conscience. :(
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Color me naive, but I am still holding out for the President to find his mind and heart. Nowhere to go but up, right?
 
Thermal said:
...
Why is it that people like Musk and Pit Bull can quickly figure out how to solve immediate problems? The Comfort sits in open water with empty beds- can no one figure out how to get a helicopter there and Medivac patients on board? She has a landing pad.
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Just a thought but maybe like Trump sabotaging the ACA then claiming the ACA failed, this is a means of sabotaging government intervention with the idea one needs private free market intervention.

Trump may be interested in looking like he's managing PR well. But he's also just going to blame others when PR's recovery looks bad. Cue crony capitalism.
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
Just a thought but maybe like Trump sabotaging the ACA then claiming the ACA failed, this is a means of sabotaging government intervention with the idea one needs private free market intervention.

Trump may be interested in looking like he's managing PR well. But he's also just going to blame others when PR's recovery looks bad. Cue crony capitalism.
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A truly disheartening thought. And a likely outcome.
 
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