dagblog - Comments for "‘People are roaming like zombies.’ Virgin Islands stagger after storm passes."

No problem with you getting

artappraiser — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 17:08:26 +0000

In reply to Yeah, Dutch & UK governments

No problem with you getting into it, but I am taking a pass on the U.S. topic for now. I think it's still a: we'll see.

What I am interested in here so far: France is actually the one that is the problem on St. Martin's, and like back in Europe, it appears to be a classist and racist problem. The UK is having some issues, but seem less so racist and classist. Also interesting that the Dutch appear to be doing much better than either. But on St. Martin it is a shared responsibility, so the Dutch have to try to work with the French. Been following the Caribbean issue closely because I have been helping someone find news about a small island next to St. Martin. The French really do have a heckuva job problem there,is very clear, the old empire and the locals thing, taking their blood and treasure and doing less than nothing in return. Maybe even a lot of graft, crooked.

Agree, but where are the

CVille Dem — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 13:49:53 +0000

In reply to Yeah, Dutch & UK governments

Agree, but where are the articulate Democrats who can explain it to those who have swallowed Reagan's:

"The worst thing to hear is, 'I'm from the Government and I'm here to help" joke. Ha Ha,

He had a pleasant, 'Aw shucks' way of spreading bile. That has been taken over by the 'Us VS Them gang, and it's more dangerous, but no less insidious.

The no government

rmrd0000 — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 13:04:57 +0000

In reply to Yeah, Dutch & UK governments

Conservatism is all hat and no cattle. The gas pumps in Florida are manned by National Guard to prevent Foridians from shooting each other.

Yeah, Dutch & UK governments

PeraclesPlease — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 06:26:14 +0000

In reply to "Heckuva job":

Yeah, Dutch & UK governments have been pretty ineffectie apparently, though to their defense, these are their across-the-seas territories. What will the stateside excusers say?

I'm looking for the Texas and Florida "no government", "let's secede", strong-on-military and heavy on the big oil industry types to suggest how they can continue to try to destroy confidence in government and swing elections even while promoting unpreparedness for basic emergencies and managing to tilt FL & TX elections to the guys who'd make it worse.

Now with the hurricane rushing up through Georgia and Alabama, we have 2 more "we hate government" states to go beg for aid.

"Heckuva job":

artappraiser — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 06:17:04 +0000

In reply to ‘People are roaming like zombies.’ Virgin Islands stagger after storm passes.

"Heckuva job":

[....] "For pity's sake, do something," Estelle Kalton begs the police. "They're looting the shops."

It is only by making a scene on the steps of a makeshift security centre set up in Marigot, the main town on the French side of the island, that Kalton is able to confront officials.

She gets an angry response to her charges of looting. "We know," a police officer replies.

Minutes earlier, France's Minister for Overseas Territories Annick Girardin had walked down the same steps after assuring reporters that "there is now security" on the island [....]

more @ Agence France Presse, Sept. 11: French Caribbean: Fear and looting grip tense Saint Martin in wake of Hurricane Irma

Over 1,200 Americans

artappraiser — Mon, 11 Sep 2017 13:29:03 +0000

In reply to ‘People are roaming like zombies.’ Virgin Islands stagger after storm passes.

Over 1,200 Americans Evacuated From St. Maarten Amid Reports of Violence

by Alastair Jamieson and Daniella Silva @ NBCNews.com, Sept. 10

The State Department said Sunday that more than 1,200 U.S. citizens have been evacuated from the hurricane-damaged island vacation hot spot of St. Maarten amid reports of looting and violence — but the Dutch government said reports of a prison break were "unfounded."

The evacuations by military flights to Puerto Rico resumed Sunday afternoon after relief flights had been suspended because of poor weather from Hurricane Jose, the storm that followed Hurricane Irma, the State Department said [....]

Americans on St. Maarten tell of Irma's devastation, lawlessness; 1,200 evacuated

By Luis Martinez @ ABCNews.com, Sep 10, 2017, with video

--------

The apocalyptic Sept. 7 helicopter video:

Desperation Mounts in

artappraiser — Mon, 11 Sep 2017 13:19:06 +0000

In reply to ‘People are roaming like zombies.’ Virgin Islands stagger after storm passes.

Desperation Mounts in Caribbean Islands: ‘All the Food Is Gone’

By Azam Ahmed & Kirk Semple @ NYTimes.com, Sept. 11

MARIGOT, St. Martin — At dawn, people began to gather, quietly planning for survival after Hurricane Irma.

They started with the grocery stores, scavenging what they needed for sustenance: water, crackers, fruit.

But by nightfall on Thursday, what had been a search for food took a more menacing turn, as groups of people, some of them armed, swooped in and took whatever of value was left: electronics, appliances and vehicles.

“All the food is gone now,” Jacques Charbonnier, a 63-year-old resident of St. Martin, said in an interview on Sunday. “People are fighting in the streets for what is left.”

In the few, long days since Irma pummeled the northeast Caribbean, killing more than two dozen people and leveling 90 percent of the buildings on some islands, the social fabric has begun to fray in some of the hardest-hit communities.

Residents of St. Martin, and elsewhere in the region, spoke about a general disintegration of law and order as survivors struggled in the face of severe food and water shortages, and the absence of electricity and phone service.

As reports of increasing desperation continued to emerge from the region over the weekend, governments in Britain, France and the Netherlands, which oversee territories in the region, stepped up their response. They defended themselves against criticism that their reaction had been too slow, and insufficient. Both the French and Dutch governments said they were sending in extra troops to restore order, along with the aid that was being airlifted into the region [....]