After the devastation created by Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico is in crisis – everyone agrees with that overall sentiment.  However, as we noted last weekend, the media reporting on the recovery issue is ridiculously politicized.
Hillary Clinton, her crew of sycophants, the democrats and their ideological leftist media cohorts are working earnestly to turn the Puerto Rico crisis into an anti-Trump false narrative.  The media are exhausting themselves on propaganda instead of focusing on real issues of helping the people of Puerto Rico.
Today the Washington Post pushes a story of the U.S.N.S Comfort being ordered to Puerto Rico and claiming it was Hillary Clinton who forced the issue:

We saw this “narrative” coming last weekend and shared the ridiculous nature of it.  The propaganda writer for the story, Dan Lamothe, needed to be challenged because it’s just false; and he even admits he knows he’s written a BS story.
The USNS Comfort is a 900′ (length) x 100′ (width) hospital.  It was built by modifying a 1970’s era oil tanker (old hull design – non bulbous bow), and it weighs approximately 67,000 tons.    It’s essentially still an old oil tanker in water placement design; meaning it needs a port to receive it on arrival.
Additionally, it takes approximately five days to activate Comfort into service.  Fueling, supplying, and the engineering to prepare for ocean passage of a massive vessel is a lengthy process.  She also needs personnel to arrive and stage etc.  All said, the logistics and engineering takes five days prep time.

When CTH challenged the WaPo author, Dan Lamothe, about this factual “spin-up” time, and how Comfort was ordered to prepare PRIOR to Clinton’s tweeting about it, Lamothe admits Clinton didn’t have anything to do with Comfort’s activation.

 “And stood down over the weekend rather than sent. Confirmed.” (link)


USNS Comfort’s activation was put on hold (“stand down”) because: A) there was no port that survived the storm in a capacity able to receive her; and B) the governor of Puerto Rico requested she not be sent.
Despite the misleading WaPo headline the author Dan Lamothe admits Comfort was activated prior to Clinton.
Then things just get silly:

That last response from Dan Lamothe tells you everything you need to know about journalists in general and WaPo writers specifically.
Notice how he intentionally left out the fact that USS Iwo-Jima and USS New York were on the Puerto Rico rescue mission: “because they returned to port in Mayport, Florida.”
Well, how exactly do supply missions work?

There comes a point where leftist propaganda just becomes silly.
Puerto Rico is an island.  The first job is to get the ports open.  Every single aspect of relief and recovery is dependent on getting all ports operational.   Nothing matters more.
That is exactly what FEMA, Homeland Security (coast guard), and the U.S. Navy understood even before the hurricane hit the island.   All assets were staged to ensure the first job was to get the ports open.
The relief lag, and any supply deficiency, is specifically related to the time it took (and takes) to open the ports.


Clueless Clinton Tweets about Hurricane Maria HERE
Navy and Coast Guard Amazing Work to Open Ports HERE

 
 

Share