Friday July 13

Another warm day. Minimal gardening today--watering and deadheading.

Found this report on FEMA's response to post-Maria Puerto Rico. Frankly, it is appalling. And it confirms my own estimation: FEMA has been just about worthless since it was folded into Homeland Security.

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, a critic of the federal government’s response to the storm said in a statement to ABC News ,“The report proves what was evident to all in Puerto Rico."
"FEMA was unprepared and they lacked a sense of urgency, which resulted in neglect, which in turn resulted in the loss of lives," she said. "It is quite troubling that they were not able to adapt their operating procedures to our reality and, from what the report says-they did not even learn from their past mistakes.”

I added the bold type.

I guess this tells us why the federal government is so slow about returning migrant children to their parents. Follow the money.

Jan in SanFran has a post which brings in John Feffer's post of a week or so ago which I enjoyed. She is right that the American empire has passed its pull-by date. They say a fish rots from the head and our empire has been rotting from the top down for some time now. I wonder how long before the smell becomes unbearable.

Infidel753 does say it like it is--unlike #45. I find no attraction in either on--not even in their promised afterlives.

Perhaps it is time to think outside our disposable box. We managed to reduce our single use plastics but too much we need comes in that: juice, milk, yogurt, frozen vegetables etc. Most of our meats come in butcher's paper now (thanks to our little meat market).

A good piece on older workers and changing retirement. Most of the articles I have seen don't deal with the nuances of the situation. Is the older worker physically capable of working past age 60 or 70. I know people, am related to a couple of them, who are not physically able to do the work any more. Changing careers at that age might be a bit problematic. Most of the people featured in the article continued in their previous careers in some capacity. Others I know or know of were essentially pushed out into a retirement they didn't want. The workplace itself may not be very welcoming. I am sure you can think of other questions that need answers.