by Joe Facinoli |
–Devastating Hurricane Ian: I have been to Sanibel Island and the Captiva chain of Islands , in Florida, and my parents used to live on the east side of Ft. Myers, several years ago.
Those islands were perhaps the most beautiful coastal areas I had ever seen, and still carry a very special place in my memory. Apparently those sweet remembrances will be all I will ever see of them again, at least for many years, if ever.
Ft. Myers, at its populace peak during any winter season, and even for most of the rest of the year, is a traffic and overpopulation nightmare, rivaling virtually all other urban, and more highly populated areas and cities, anywhere in the U.S.
That too, will never be the same, as much of the beach front and downtown areas, the uncountable marinas, and anything else, including residential communities within several blocks of the Gulf of Mexico, and even farther in, are simply gone now. Gone.
Mother Nature does what she wants, however she wants to do it. And when her full power is put on display, it is beyond overwhelming for mere humans to try to comprehend, much less deal with its effects.
–Putin Also Doing What He Wants, …and the World Lets Him: Russian President Vladimir Putin is another force who does what he wants, when and how and where he wants to do it.
Some examples: There are at least four Ukrainian areas which he has simply decided, now will be Russian. Doesn’t matter that he has not been able to acquire them, through military forays nor cultural persuasion, he wants them to be Russian, he needs them to be Russian, …so they will be Russian.
Oh the world cries and complains, but does virtually nothing (remember Crimea, just a few short years ago?), except for the many brave souls inside Ukraine, out manned and out weaponed, and unable to do much, except die for their country.
Putin’s ridiculous folly of pretending that he has the most powerful army on Earth, and then showing all the Earth that he doesn’t, has not stopped his verbal attacks on Ukraine, nor anywhere else who happens to cross him.
Verbal attacks are what he’s good at, and apparently, all he’s got right now. How many times has he threatened to use nuclear weapons against those “awful” folks in Ukraine? When he knows that he couldn’t win a nuclear war against Pakistan, muchless the U.S. nor a U.S. backed country.
It’s all just window dressing, and gymnastics, anyway. The real, and regular war is hard enough, and he’s losing that, so to Putin, threatening nuclear weapons is just the next thing on his menu.
–Puerto Rico Always Blames Their Economic Stupidity and Corruption, …on Hurricanes!!: PR’s continual economic disaster comes 100% from their deep and widespread, and all-encompassing corruption, and their stupidity in thinking that no one would ever notice.
A major hurricane hits this Caribbean island about every 20 minutes it seems, if you listen to the PR govt., but actually it’s only about once every five years, which is plenty often enough that the govt. and residents should have learned to be well prepared.
Never happens. The corrupt PR govt. takes in all the money the U.S. Congress sends it, as well as from other sources, and then never makes any major attempt to be sure that country’s roads and electric infrastructure are functional, even in normal times, muchless in the case of a weather trauma.
That money crosses many hands, but never the ones who can make a difference with the infrastructure in that poor country. Gone before it gets there.
The U.S. gives Billions of dollars every year, to the PR general economy, and then always kicks in further in the event of hurricanes, etc. $2.5 billion after hurricane Maria, five years ago. All gone in a minute.
So when Hurricane Fiona hit PR earlier this summer, again all we heard was that the U.S. cared nothing for its Caribbean cousins, and wouldn’t give them enough money to survive, at even the lowest level.
All nonsensical corruption, at its most stupid, and naïve.
A quick example: Remember five years ago, when all the PRs were saying that Trump (and the U.S.) wasn’t doing anything to help them, after Maria hit them, and then one other smaller hurricane, in the same month?
The U.S., and Trump, were telling the world that we had sent millions and millions of dollars of food and other necessities to them. The PRs denied all of that, and then asked why we couldn’t at least send them some water?
Turns out, after some closer inspection by our Ambassador’s staff, done right there in PR, many, many THOUSANDS of cases of water were found on a private runway, covered in plastic tarps in the ever present heat, which had gone bad (from the plastic) before it could be flown away to somewhere to receive payment for it.
That may be the epitome of corruption. And Stupidity.
–Quotes of the Week:
“The Truth is Incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, Ignorance may deride it, but in the End, ….There it is.” —Sir Winston Churchill
“If someone’s view of the world was the same at 20, as it is at 50, then they’ve wasted 30 years of their life.” —Muhammad Ali
© Copyright Joe Facinoli, 10-1-2022
Intelligent Response Encouraged
(As long as it’s civil, please)
joefacinoli@yahoo.com