And while Jill Stein was visiting flood victims this weekend, Hillary
Clinton was doing fund raising. If she's so smart, why didn't it occur to
her that she might visit the flood victims. Perhaps because by now, it
doesn't matter to the campaign what the public thinks of her? And if it
doesn't matter, why does she need to do all that fund raising for
advertising? They had the mothers of the slain black young people at the
convention. Why not have her cradling a black child in a house destroyed by
a flood in Louisiana? Obama, Clinton, they're so damn entitled that they
can't take time off from their very busy lives to pretend to be
humanitarians.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2016 5:05 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Jill Stein Speaks With Victims of Louisiana's
Catastrophic Flood-and Those Trying to Help Them
Well, President Obama finally did arrive for a tour. But of course, despite
charges that he was tardy in rushing to the scene, his detractors did not
appear to be digging deep into their off shore accounts to help those whose
homes had been destroyed without the benefit of flood insurance. What was
missing in the President's comments was how swiftly resources will be
available and to what extent. Can the USA do for it's own citizens what it
is so quick to do for certain foreign governments?
Carl Jarvis
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Christi Parsons AUGUST 23, 2016, 1:15 PMAUGUST
23, 2016, 1:15 PM |REPORTING FROM ZACHARY, LA.
President Obama tried to set aside politics Tuesday in favor of pointing to
the plight of victims of the devastating floods in Louisiana as he
underscored the importance of an effective and quick federal disaster
response.
Obama toured ravaged homes and talked with relatives of some of the 13
people killed by flooding from severe rains of the last two weeks.
With Republican
and Democratic officials at his side, he dismissed criticism that he ignored
the unfolding disaster while he was on vacation and instead urged Americans
to help.
"Nobody on this block, none of those first responders nobody gives a hoot
whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, Obama said during his tour.
What they care about is making sure they're getting the drywall out, the
carpet out, there's not any mold building, they get some contractors in here
and they start rebuilding as quick as possible."
Obama bragged about the speed with which his Federal Emergency Management
Agency is dispatching aid to the region, and White House aides noted that
more than $127 million for rental assistance and flood insurance payments
has already been disbursed. More than 100,000 people have applied for
federal assistance.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican, did caution that it was too early to judge
the FEMA response.
But the bipartisan array of officials touring with Obama made for an
image that stood out for its contrast from the partisan accusations lobbed
in recent days. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump visited the
area last week and complained that Democratic rival Hillary Clinton had not
done likewise.
Clinton countered that she would travel to Louisiana at a time when the
presence of a political campaign will not disrupt the response.
Trump charged Tuesday that the president should have gone to Louisiana
instead of golfing on vacation. Too little, too late! he tweeted as Obama
was en route to Baton Rouge.
On 8/23/16, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
.
Truthdig
Jill Stein Speaks With Victims of Louisiana's Catastrophic Flood-and
Those Trying to Help Them
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/jill_stein_is_bringing_attention_
to_vic
tims_of_flooding_in_20160822/
AddThis Sharing Buttons
Share to FacebookShare to TwitterShare to MoreShare to Email
Posted on Aug 22, 2016
Jill Stein, left, with resident Le'Kedra Robertson. (Jill 2016)
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was in Denham Springs,
La., on Monday to speak with
people(https://www.facebook.com/drjillstein/) forced from their homes
by historic flooding-and to the volunteers trying to help them.
Some of the groups working on the scene were the Louisiana
Environmental Action Network(https://leanweb.org) , Together Baton
Rouge(http://www.togetherbr.org) , North Baton Rouge Disaster
Relief(https://www.gofundme.com/northbatonrouge) and Mutual Aid
Disaster
Relief(https://www.facebook.com/MutualAidDisasterRelief/) .
In one clip (viewed 42,000 times within three hours of appearing on
Facebook), Stein spoke with some of the displaced residents and
volunteer relief workers from Louisiana's Green Party.
Anika Ofori, a representative of the black caucus of the Louisiana
Greens, pointed out the racialized neglect of residents in the form of
slow-arriving support from the federal government. "We know from
Hurricane Katrina that when the resources come, they don't always, and
most often, do not get to the poorest or the blackest communities,"
she said. "So I am part of the Green Party because the Green Party
platform encompasses issues that affect me, that affect the black
community, that affect the poor community, that affect other minority
communities. And so I thank Jill for getting in contact with us."
Another woman expressed gratitude for her experience at the shelter,
saying that despite flood victims' losses, "we're still gaining
because we have each other to lean on."
Stein added that "it's a crisis like this that really brings out the
strength of a community. And we're here to help enlarge that community."
In another clip, Stein described what she saw while walking around a
formerly submerged neighborhood. "We basically saw drenched floors
where the floors were buckling. We saw walls that were beginning to be
covered with mold. ... We saw basically muck on the floor, on the
furniture, on the cabinets; the doors being taken down.
"All these emotional mementos and trophies," she continued. "The
sports trophies that were earned by the parents and also by the kids
who are now adults. . Grown children, their life's treasures, their
childhood treasures were basically all out on the front lawn.
"And we saw a crew of wonderful people, neighbors and many people who
came from New Orleans, who had been victimized by the floods."
In a concluding clip, Stein thanked everyone who had shown up to help
the people of Denham Springs recover. Local activist Le'Kedra
Robertson said local children won't be able to return to school until
December and invited viewers to come to Denham Springs and contribute
physical labor to help residents get back on their feet.
"If you walk through these streets of Denham Springs, where I grew up,
there aren't any FEMA or other resources that are coming except for
people who have compassionate hearts who are fixing lunches and
putting boots on the ground."
Anyone interested in financially contributing to the community's
recovery can do so via a GoFundMe
campaign(https://www.gofundme.com/510DenhamSprings)
.
-Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly(http://www.truthdig.com/alexander_kelly)