Hurricane Maria
Estimated Hurricane Maria path, 9/19/2017
The National Hurricane Center warns — all-caps in original — “…POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC HURRICANE MARIA CONTINUES WEST- NORTHWESTWARD TOWARD THE VIRGIN ISLANDS AND PUERTO RICO… …PREPARATIONS AGAINST LIFE-THREATENING STORM SURGE AND RAINFALL FLOODING AND DESTRUCTIVE WINDS SHOULD BE RUSHED TO COMPLETION… ”
In contrast with hurricane-damaged Texas and Florida, Puerto Rico is bankrupt, limiting its resiliency in the face of the storm threat.
Florida has been scolded by rail advocates for not having passenger train services that could have facilitated evacuation just before Hurricane Irma struck. A transportation analyst pokes holes in that argument — but criticizes Florida’s transportation authorities for not having made better use of existing north-south highways: Reversible Lanes, Not Trains.
Wiretap scandal
CNN and other major media, which earlier ridiculed President Trump’s tweets that Trump Tower had been wiretapped by the Obama Administration during the presidential campaign, now concedes that he could have been wiretapped. This leaves both former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former FBI director James Comey vulnerable to charges that they lied to the public.
The wiretaps helped initiate the anonymous news leak storm that contributed to the appointment of Special Counsel Mueller to investigate alleged Trump campaign collusion with Russia. Trump, however, is now being advised to “worry more about Congress than about Mueller.”
Immigration
A segment of the Israeli separation wall
Trump’s more cool-headed supporters at American Greatness have joined his more agitated supporters at Breitbart News in their concern over the direction the President’s immigration policy is taking. Part of the controversy is over whether a wall on the southern U.S. border — a Trump campaign promise — is worth building. The Hungarian and Israeli experiences are cited as evidence that a southern U.S. wall would work in thwarting illegal immigration. But wouldn’t a sensible guest worker program — one controlled by the states to balance employers’ needs with U.S. workers’ rights — also reduce illegal immigration, at lower cost and greater friendliness toward trade partner Mexico?
Click here to go to the previous Founders Broadsheet post (“Monday’s news (9/18/2017)”)
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