Whenever this country has a natural disaster — as Hurricane Florence is almost certain to be — I get really, really frustrated by how the nonsense of politics threatens human lives and property. We can be better prepared to deal with these things and we should be better prepared. It seems to be a given that this country will spend whatever it takes for military reasons, prepping to go out and kill all enemies even when they aren't coming for us. But being ready to deal with hurricanes and earthquakes — which are going to happen, we know — are treated with an attitude of "We'll figure out what to do about the damage after it happens."
I feel very bad right now for the folks in the Carolinas and surrounding states. They can't feel very confident that their government will be there for them; not with what's coming out of Washington. Thousands of Americans died in Puerto Rico because of Hurricane Maria but that's not a big deal if you can dismiss it all as a lie cooked up by the Democrats to make Donald J. Trump look bad. The man lives in a world where everything he touches gets an A-plus — an easy thing to achieve when you only recognize the grades you give yourself.
But disasters that claim lives and level homes cannot be a partisan thing. If you look back on this blog, you'll see me saying during all administrations that we needed to do more to be ready for these kinds of things. I blame the news media too. In the era of 24/7 coverage where all the channels and newspapers grasp for developments they can label "Breaking News," they couldn't find more time to show us what was happening in San Juan.
Sorry this isn't funnier but I'm in my cynical, helpless mood today. I just donated money to Operation USA, which is that charity I mention here. They will be there for the folks who are now threatened but they won't be everywhere. They'll be applying band-aids to gaping wounds but at least there will be those band-aids. Private charities haven't the resources to do much more than that. Our government does but you just know Trump will be sitting there saying, "Okay, send some money to North Carolina but Virginia doesn't get a cent because they didn't vote for me!"