Reggie James / Sierra Club & Amanda Terkel / The Huffington Post & Petition / The Daily Kos – 2017-08-31 23:00:00
https://sierra.secure.force.com/donate/rc_connect__campaign_designform
ACTION ALERT: Hurricane Harvey:
Help Sierra Club support community-led recovery efforts
Reggie James / Sierra Club
HOUSTON, Texas (August 31, 2017) — I could never have imagined seeing devastation like this in my home state. As rain continues to fall, I know all of our hearts are with those here in Texas and Louisiana who have had their lives affected by this horrific disaster. The heroism and sacrifice of first responders and volunteers risking their lives and working tirelessly to save others is truly inspiring, and gives me hope.
But communities here have not even begun to recover. We still do not know the full extent of the devastation, and FEMA officials are already preparing for a “years long” recovery process.
I know many of you are heartbroken and searching for ways to help. Well, here’s one critical way:
Donate to Sierra Club’s Harvey relief efforts.
Sierra Club’s local chapters and national staff will be working hand-in-hand with community groups throughout the Gulf Coast to address the hurricane’s environmental effects, support urgent relief efforts, and advocate for a just and equitable distribution of resources.
Communities across the Gulf Coast need immediate assistance. We have seen first-hand the results of disregard for environmental safety, as toxic chemicals and fossil fuel infrastructure throughout the Gulf Coast have made people sick.
Refineries, storage tanks and chemical plants have already caused untold damage to the neighborhoods they were built in, and to the people who have lived next to them for decades. Now, low-income communities and communities of color are being exposed to new risks as Harvey’s winds and waters threaten more than 20 toxic sites and 24 Superfund sites that are in the storm’s path.
It is a tragedy and we need to respond with all the tools we have to help provide immediate relief and begin the long road toward a just recovery.
The Sierra Club is mobilizing our staff and marshalling resources to help support relief efforts across the Gulf. It is more imperative than ever before that we leave no person or community behind, both in the efforts to clean up after this historically devastating storm and in the efforts to rebuild and recover in the weeks, months, and years to come.
Please make your donation to Sierra Club’s Harvey relief efforts through the Lone Star Chapter today. 100% of funds you donate will go directly to community-led recovery efforts throughout the flood zone.
Thank you for your support,
Reggie James is Director, of the Sierra Club’s Lone Star Chapter
“What a Crowd! What a Turnout!”
Trump Makes Devastating Hurricane All About Trump
Amanda Terkel / The Huffington Post
(August 29, 2017) — Crises like major weather disasters offer presidents the chance to unify the country and rise above partisan politics. Although a significant amount of aid work is done at the state and local levels, the president still has a major role in coordinating the response and setting the tone for the country.
But for Donald Trump, Hurricane Harvey has been a golden opportunity to promote himself.
“We want to be looked at in five years, in 10 years from now as, this is the way to do it,” the president said on Tuesday. “We want to do it better than ever before.”
Right now, however, Trump wants to be looked at in a way that makes people say, “I would really like to wear that hat, and I’d be willing to pay that man $40 for it.”
The president has repeatedly worn his own campaign merchandise, which is on sale at his website, to Hurricane Harvey events.
Nearly every chance he gets, Trump brags about the size of his hurricane. He doesn’t have to deal with just any old storm like his predecessors did — he is confronting a huge storm. The biggest storm you’ve ever seen. A storm that only he could handle. And of course, he wants everyone to know that he and his administration are doing a heckuva job.
Trump also continued to tout how many supporters he has, and the size of his crowds, which he also does at nearly every campaign rally. On Tuesday, he remarked on the crowd size while visiting Corpus Christi, saying, “What a crowd, what a turnout.”
He was at a fire station to meet with local officials about the disaster response. It was not a rally.
Reporters at the event heard no mention from the president of the dead, suffering or displaced Texans, nor did they hear Trump express any sympathy for them, according to a Dallas Morning News reporter.
Trump seems to be taking a certain amount of satisfaction from the attention he and the hurricane are getting on TV, where cable news has nearly non-stop coverage.
On Tuesday, Trump boasted that Federal Emergency Management Director Brock Long “has really become very famous on television over the last couple of days.” And he defended his decision to pardon controversial Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio during Harvey, saying he did so because of how many people were tuning in: “I assumed the ratings would be far higher.”
On the same day that Trump was tweeting about the size of the hurricane, his great rescue operation, NAFTA and his insistence that Mexico will pay for the border wall, former President Barack Obama tweeted a donation link to the Red Cross.
ACTION ALERT: Sign the Petition:
Denounce Trump’s Response to Hurricane Harvey
The Daily Kos
(August 30, 2017) — We all remember George W. Bush’s disgraceful response to Hurricane Katrina: “Heckuva job, Brownie.” If you can believe it, Donald Trump’s response to Harvey is even worse.
While victims are stranded waiting for assistance to evacuate, Trump:
(a) tweeted that it was the biggest storm in 500 years, and the spirit of Texas people is “incredible,”
(b) demanded that Mexico pay for his border wall,
(c) bragged that he won the state of Missouri and
(d) promoted a political supporter’s book.
His Twitter feed is a complete disgrace.
Meanwhile, Trump has failed to appoint people to key administration posts on disaster relief.
Sign the Petition: Trump’s response to Hurricane Harvey is a complete disgrace.
Our Message to Donald Trump:
Many of Hurricane Harvey’s victims will die as a result of Donald Trump’s disgraceful reaction. Shame on Trump!
