A new threat surfaces as hurricane season gets under way. There's nobody in charge.

Courtesy of WTKR: 

Hurricane season began on June 1, and according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the season will be a busy one, with an above-average range of 5-9 hurricanes likely in the Atlantic. 

The United States could be especially vulnerable to hurricane landfalls this year, observers say, but not because of the enhanced activity that is expected. 

The two agencies that protect the country’s coast lines and its residents, NOAA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are still without leaders — positions that must be appointed by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate. 

“That should scare the hell out of everybody,” retired US Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré told CNN. “These positions help save lives.”

For their part FEMA and NOAA say they are ready, however with nobody competent at the helm there is still concern that the lack of leadership will negatively impact reaction time.

Anybody remember Katrina?

Now for his part Trump of course is blaming the Democrats.

.@foxandfriends Dems are taking forever to approve my people, including Ambassadors. They are nothing but OBSTRUCTIONISTS! Want approvals.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017

But in fact Trump has been exceedingly slow in appointing the necessary personnel in the first place.

 As you can see while the confirmation process IS slower than in previous administrations (For good cause if you ask me.) there are still far fewer appointees to even consider.

And why is that? Take a guess:

“In the vetting process there is a lot of scrutiny of social media accounts, Twitter . . . any hint of something negative about Trump as a candidate can be disqualifying, and a lot of people haven’t made it through that filter,” said Christine Wormuth, who served as the Pentagon’s top policy official from 2014 to 2016, under former President Barack Obama’s administration. 

The investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russian officials is also scaring off people who had been on the fence about joining the administration. Even the opportunity to work under Mattis, who many of the potential picks know and respect, may not be enough. 

“With, frankly, the chaos that is happening, people who might have been open to it are asking themselves ‘Do I want to join this administration? How much of an impact will I have? Will I have to get a lawyer?’” Wormuth said.

So what is Trump doing with his time not spent making appointments to his cabinet, besides tweeting of course?

Funny you should ask.

President Trump is now at his Virginia golf club for the 2nd day in a row. It's his 23rd golf course visit since taking office 19 weeks ago.

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 4, 2017

Yeah, if Trump is looking for somebody to blame for the lack of leadership in key government agencies he need only look in the mirror.

Though I would advise him to only do so while fully dressed.

Because, ick!

The Green Party's presidential candidate sure has solid political instincts, don't you agree?

I'm headed to Louisiana to help a local group deliver supplies and recruit volunteers. #BatonRougeFlood pic.twitter.com/KFLjBHAyFL

— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) August 22, 2016

Gee....where have I seen an image like this before?

Oh yeah.

George W. Bush on his way to visit the devastation left behind from Katrina in 2005.

Yep, solid political instincts.

Donald Trump attempts to shame President Obama over his response to Louisiana flooding by handing out Play-Doh for 49 seconds. Update!

@realDonaldTrump and @GovPenceIN help unload and hand out supplies to flood victims in Baton Rouge. #LouisianaFlood pic.twitter.com/3o6Ut4f1qK

— RSBN (@RSBNetwork) August 19, 2016

Courtesy of Mediaiate:  

On Friday morning, freshly-minted Donald Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told ABC News that Trump and running mate Mike Pence would be traveling to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to “help people on the ground” in a “decidedly nonpolitical event” with “no press allowed.” 

As it turns out, though, there actually were members of the press allowed, and the candidate did use the occasion to attack his political opponent, and there were opportunities for photographs, but true to his word, Trump did “help out.” Pool cameras trailed Trump for his entire visit, and over the course of those several hours, Trump “helped out” by unloading a truckload of toys for 49 seconds.

If you pause the video you will see that Trump is handing out boxes of Play-Doh which I am sure most of you know is a child's toy and not something to eat or drink.

This visit is of course a purely political response to the fact that President Obama did not cut his vacation short to appear in one of those photo-ops that are supposed to demonstrate that he is personally solving each crisis or problem that arises.

For which he is receiving no of end of grief from conservative media.

Chris Cilliza of the Washington Post explains to us why the President is not rushing to get his face on the news in Louisiana:

Obama just doesn't like to fake it. If he doesn't want to do something or thinks it's stupid to do it — regardless of whether it actually is stupid — he won't do it.

In other words Obama is not willing to jump through the hoops to placate his detractors anymore.

What he HAS done is to sign the Louisiana Disaster Declaration, which he did five days ago: 

The President's action makes federal funding available to affected individuals in the parishes of East Baton Rouge, Livingston, St. Helena, and Tangipahoa. 

Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster. 

Federal funding also is available to the state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work as a result of the flooding in the parishes of East Baton Rouge, Livingston, St. Helena, and Tangipahoa. 

Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.

In other words this is something that provides services which are actually needed in the area, and having the President show up for a photo-op would really only get in the way at this point.

Speaking of self serving political gestures, this is what Sarah Palin posted on her Facebook page :

That's right, it links to an article over on Palin's favorite go to Right Wing rag comparing President Obama's reaction to this flooding in Louisiana to Bush's historically poor response after Katrina, and suggesting that THIS is WORSE.

No I am not kidding.

Doesn't make any difference, President Obama is just going to continue doing his job. Yes, even while he is on vacation. (Everybody knows that Presidents don't get REAL vacations after all.)

And what's more he is finally at a point where he really does not give two shits what his critics say about him.

And personally I prefer a President who signs an emergency bill immediately after the flooding starts to one who shows up over a week late and hands out Play-Doh for less than a minute before boarding his private jet and flying away.

But hey, that's just me.

Update: President Obama now has plans to visit Louisiana on Tuesday:

"The President is mindful of the impact that his travel has on first responders and wants to ensure that his presence does not interfere with ongoing recovery efforts," the White House said.

And THAT'S how you do it. 

Somebody might want to tell Jeb Bush that it is NOT a good idea to nickname someone after the disaster that helped to destroy his brother's reputation as President.

"Did I do it again? I did it again didn't I?"

Courtesy of CNN:

State Sen. Katrina Shealy introduced Bush before his town hall at the iconic Hudson's Smokehouse here, just outside of Columbia. 

When Bush took the stage, he attempted to praise Shealy, the only woman in the state senate for the previous three years. 

"In fact, when I was governor, in 16 months we had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms. One of them was called Katrina," he said as some in the audience laughed.

As I'm sure most of you remember that 2005's Hurricane Katrina killed over 1,000 Americans and did an estimated 108 billion dollars worth of damage.

Not only that but George W's response to the disaster, or better yet lack of response, caused immense damage to his presidency and destroyed whatever confidence the American people had left in his ability to govern the country.

You know you kind of have to admire just how far Jeb! can shove his foot into his own mouth.

Well look who returned to the scene of the crime.

Courtesy of Democratic Underground

Courtesy of NPR: 

Former President George W. Bush, whose legacy was marred by the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina, visited New Orleans today to mark the 10th anniversary of the tragedy. 

Bush and his wife, Laura, arrived Friday morning at Warren Easton Charter High School, where they met with students as well as New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Kathleen Blanco, who was Louisiana's governor when Katrina hit in August 2005. 

In a speech at the school, the former president said he will never forget the images of "misery and ruin" from Katrina. He said New Orleans was a city where "the levies gave out but ... [the] people never gave up."

Yeah, but their government sure did, didn't it Georgie?

If it wasn't for the media scrutiny and the resulting outrage I think the Bush administration would have simply let this whole city just wash away.

I cannot believe that Bush has the balls to show is face his face in New Orleans.

It kind of reminds me of an arsonist who stands next to the firetruck to watch the building he set on fire burn.

Worst President EVER!

More people in Louisiana blame President Obama for the poor response to Katrina than blame President Bush. Guess which one was actually President at the time.

Courtesy of TPM:

A significant chunk of Louisiana Republicans evidently believe that President Barack Obama is to blame for the poor response to the hurricane that ravaged their state more than three years before he took office. 

The latest survey from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling, provided exclusively to TPM, showed an eye-popping divide among Republicans in the Bayou State when it comes to accountability for the government's post-Katrina blunders. 

Twenty-eight percent said they think former President George W. Bush, who was in office at the time, was more responsible for the poor federal response while 29 percent said Obama, who was still a freshman U.S. Senator when the storm battered the Gulf Coast in 2005, was more responsible. Nearly half of Louisiana Republicans — 44 percent — said they aren't sure who to blame.

Look it's really quite simple. If you have to choose between two different Presidents to blame, one who was on the job during the disaster, and one that wasn't. You blame the black guy.  

Makes perfect sense.

In the South.

New Orleans high school students make video about the corruption surrounding the rebuilding of the levees.

Levee.org produced a video that has drawn the ire of the American Society of Civil Engineers, which says the spoof, produced by Newman high school students, defames then. Levees.org stand by the video, but says it pulled it from its web site saying it has no resources to fight the ASCE.

The ASCE pressured YouTube to yank this video, which they did, but nobody told me not to post it. Not that I would listen anyhow.

You know how I am.

Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of aid was offered to America after Hurricane Katrina by other countries but virtually none of it was accepted.

Allies offered $854 million in cash and in oil that was to be sold for cash. But only $40 million has been used so far for disaster victims or reconstruction, according to U.S. officials and contractors. Most of the aid went uncollected, including $400 million worth of oil. Some offers were withdrawn or redirected to private groups such as the Red Cross. The rest has been delayed by red tape and bureaucratic limits on how it can be spent.

And while television sets worldwide showed images of New Orleans residents begging to be rescued from rooftops as floodwaters rose, U.S. officials turned down countless offers of allied troops and search-and-rescue teams. The most common responses: "sent letter of thanks" and "will keep offer on hand," the new documents show.

Overall, the United States declined 54 of 77 recorded aid offers from three of its staunchest allies: Canada, Britain and Israel, according to a 40-page State Department table of the offers that had been received as of January 2006.

As if we needed any further proof of just how badly broken our government has become. There has never been an administration as incompetent as this one, or as criminally negligent of how it treats the American people.

Even without the Iraq war this Presidency would still probably have gone down in history as the worst one in history.