Showing posts with label hurricane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hurricane. Show all posts

Saturday, June 7, 2014

False Flag Nation

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There's a Sheryl Crow song called "Every Day is a Winding Road" and that line pretty much sums up the twists and turns of conspiracy theorists. Nothing is ever what it seems. Truth is an illusion. Their favorite song should be "Everything is a False Flag," which means that for any given news story, it can be explained away as an event staged with actors to make a political point.

The "flag" in the name refers to Naval Warfare in which a ship will fly the flag of another country to sneak up on the enemy. Espionage groups all over the world allegedly "stage" false flag operations to confuse or cast doubt on other countries.

For a modern origin, False Flaggers point to something called "Operation Northwoods."



In the U.S., the biggest "Mother-of-All False Flag" conspiracy theory could be the idea that the Bush Administration "staged" the September 11 attack in 2001. Countless websites and books are devoted to the idea that George Bush himself gave the order to implode the Twin Towers, and that there never was a plane crash at the Pentagon. The 3000 victims were collateral damage in a bigger plan by Cheney and Rumsfeld to justify going back to Iraq to conquer the country, and steal their oil. Bush went along with it so he could finish what his father started with the first Gulf War by capturing Baghdad and killing Saddam Hussein. With a war already going in Afghanistan, America didn't want another war front, so to convince Congress the Bushies invented imaginary Weapons of Mass Destruction or WMDs that Saddam didn't actually have. That part of the story is true and confirmed by then-Sec. of State Colin Powell, which proves to False Flaggers that the rest of it must be true.

Others blame the "Zionist Conspiracy" - the idea that Israel set up 9-11 so that the U.S. would wage war on Muslims all over the world.

And of course, while Bush never captured Osama, his army did capture Baghdad and Saddam Hussein, and he managed to install the Patriot Act, a type of draconian law in which we are supposed to be afraid of our own shadows, see every Muslim as a terrorist, while the government remains an ally to Israel. To the false-flaggers, that partial truth means that EVERYTHING has to be true!

Even today you can find "9-11 Truthers" on Twitter:









These days false flag theories get their start on far-right radio with people like Alex Jones and Glenn Beck who are paranoid and think they see government propaganda black-operations going on every time something happens. The people who believe False Flag reports are known as "Truthers," which is sort of a take-off on "Birthers" - the anti-Obama crowd who believe that everything about his life is a manufactured lie, from his birth certificate to his college degree to the way he governs. These theories are fueled mostly by hatred and the GOP has used the ideas to fire up the base and view the President as "the other" - some exotic, un-American creature.

The False Flag meme blames everything on Obama, even horrible school shootings, terrorism, and bad weather. The nutters believe that Obama is creating a false reality to frighten people into passing his programs, such as gun control and climate change. And sometimes, as with Obamacare, the GOP fought against it so long, they are just in denial about how successful it is. Oh, and also Benghazzzziii!!!

For instance, read these previous posts:

The Boston Marathon Bombing = False Flag
Success of Obamacare is a Lying False Flag
Obama has a Tornado Machine
Obama lied about Benghazi Emails

Here's a compilation of Alex Jones on The Boston Bombing:



The most recent spate of False Flaggers are sympathizers with the National Rifle Association. You could say they have a persecution complex, believing that Obama is still going to grab their guns, even though he hasn't made one move to do it in almost seven years. These gun-lovers were behind the theory that the Newtown/Sandy Hook Elementary shooting was a staged event to drum up gun control support - and of course they blame Obama:
The Sandy Hook Truthers - Shooting was Staged with "Crisis Actors"

Recently a Sandy Hook Truther got into trouble for continuing to harass the parents of a victim, even stealing a sign that had been erected at a playground to honor the child. The man was hunted down and caught by police after he sent pictures of the sign to the blog The Daily Banter. Kudos to Bob Cesca and Chez Pazienza for helping to catch this creepy guy!





Chez Pazienza on The Daily Banter
Police have told us that The Daily Banter‘s reporting on the story was instrumental in catching 28-year-old Andrew David Truelove and bringing the case to a close.

As we reported here last week, someone claiming to have stolen the signs contacted me and e-mailed pictures of the missing panels, boasting that he had taken them and then called the families of both McDonnell and Kowalski to taunt them by saying that their children had never actually existed and the Sandy Hook massacre was nothing but a hoax. I passed along all the information this person had sent me to the police department in Stonington, Conn., which was working the case. I’ve been in contact with detectives there several times since.

It turns out the photos that we received were loaded with metadata, including geotags, which led Stonington to contact Herndon, where many of the pictures were apparently taken. Police there tracked the geotags to the home seen in the photos we posted last week, which was actually a small unit rented by someone named Alan J. Truelove. They obtained a warrant and this morning arrested Truelove, the father of the man suspected of being the actual sign thief, Andrew David Truelove. While the elder Truelove hasn’t been charged with anything yet, since he denies knowing the signs in his home were stolen, while being questioned he apparently asked the police how they could be sure the Sandy Hook shooting had really happened. So, yes, it looks like he’s a Sandy Hook truther just like his son.

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The NRA crowd seems to be coming up with a new False Flag theory a day:

Some of them believe Elliot Rodger, the Isla Vista California shooter who documented at length his own plans to kill women who wouldn't sleep with him, was just a cog in the wheel of Obama's Gun Control Plan:













A gun found at Target in the children's department was put there by the Gun Control group Moms Demand Action to cause an incident so the #NRA will back down on allowing Open Carry in their stores. Yeah, that makes sense - NOT.







A shooting at the Forsyth Georgia County Courthouse was staged to slam both gun lovers and "Sovereign Citizens" - a type of Libertarian who believes the federal government has no jurisdiction, such as Cliven Bundy.



And finally, here's one in Canada - the New Brunswick shooting of three Mounties:












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Saturday, January 18, 2014

Christie Strikes Back at MSNBC Hoboken Story ~ #Floodgate Update

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Previous Related Posts
Hoboken Mayor Throws Christie Down on UP with Steve Kornacki MSNBC
GOP Spin on Christie - Bad Bromance and Benghazi
Christie Tries to Deflect and Dissemble on #BridgeGate
Christie's Well-Named Minion, Bridget Kelly
Christie Bridge-Splains But Holes Remain
Chris Christie and the #BridgeGate #BridgeGhazi #BridgeNado

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Governor Chris Christie isn't having a good weekend. Today he flew to Florida to talk to possible donors for his Presidential campaign but it all hit the fan anyway when MSNBC's Steve Kornacki interviewed the Mayor of Hoboken, Dawn Zimmer, who came forward with a brand-spankin' new scandal to dump on the Christie administration. Looking and sounding almost like a frightened refugee in her own state, Zimmer described a pattern of manipulation and extortion played out by everyone from Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno to David Samson, Christie's mentor and head of the Port Authority. Now we have even more players involved, and a widening net that will probably include future subpoenas as both federal and state officials seek answers. Christie is livid and blaming MSNBC for all his woes in a hissy fit of "shoot the messenger." Make popcorn and stay tuned.

From New York Daily News
A pair of bully-boy Gov. Chris Christie’s top lieutenants delivered a “Sopranos”-style shakedown message to the mayor of Hoboken, MSNBC reported Saturday.
Mayor Dawn Zimmer, in an exclusive interview with the cable channel, said Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno told her that Hurricane Sandy relief funds for Hoboken were tied to the approval of a city redevelopment plan.
In true Jersey fashion, the conversation occurred last May 13 in the parking lot of a Hoboken ShopRite, according to Zimmer.
Guadagno “pulled me aside ... And she said, ‘I know it’s not right, I know these things should not be connected, but they are. And if you tell anyone, I’ll deny it,’” Zimmer said in a Saturday interview.

Hoboken Damage from Hurricane Sandy





In a nearly 1,600-word statement issued while Christie was in Florida on a fundraising trip, spokesman Colin Reed went after multiple MSNBC hosts for reporting on the so-called “Bridgegate” scandal that has plagued the governor’s administration for weeks.
~ MSNBC

Excerpt via Huffington Post
"MSNBC is a partisan network that has been openly hostile to Governor Christie and almost gleeful in their efforts attacking him, even taking the unprecedented step of producing and airing a nearly three-minute attack ad against him this week.
Governor Christie and his entire administration have been helping Hoboken get the help they need after Sandy, with the city already having been approved for nearly $70 million dollars in federal aid and is targeted to get even more when the Obama Administration approves the next rounds of funding. The Governor and Mayor Zimmer have had a productive relationship, with Mayor Zimmer even recently saying she’s ‘very glad’ he’s been our Governor. It’s very clear partisan politics are at play here as Democratic mayors with a political axe to grind come out of the woodwork and try to get their faces on television."

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The lane closings were an abuse of power. These new revelations suggest a pattern of behavior by the highest-ranking members of this administration that is deeply offensive to the people of New Jersey. If true, they could be illegal. There is no place in public service for actions like this or for the people who are responsible.
~ Steve Sweeney, President of State Senate on UP with Steve Kornackie

It’s just another example of the pattern of bullying and intimidation and retribution that takes place if you don’t do what Chris Christie wants. My understanding was that 80 percent of Hoboken was underwater, that they desperately needed those recovery funds.
~ Democratic National Committee Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz

This one is beyond ugly. Because in the end, Zimmer did get shorted. Hoboken got $342,000, a pittance for a town that was 80 percent under water after the October 2012 storm. She had requested $127 million.
This is a credible charge. Zimmer is describing the same kind of thuggish behavior from the Christie administration that we saw during Bridgegate.
But this one cuts deeper. Leaving people stranded in horrid traffic for four days is bad enough. But denying aid to victims of Sandy as a means of leverage against an elected official is simply revolting. And surely illegal.
~ Tom Moran, New Jersey Star-Ledger

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#Bridgegate ~ Hoboken Mayor Throws Christie Down on "Up"

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Previous Related Posts
GOP Spin on Christie - Bad Bromance and Benghazi
Christie Tries to Deflect and Dissemble on #BridgeGate
Christie's Well-Named Minion, Bridget Kelly
Christie Bridge-Splains But Holes Remain
Chris Christie and the #BridgeGate #BridgeGhazi #BridgeNado

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I’d be more than willing to testify under oath and – and answer any questions and provide any documents, take a lie detector test. Would all of you? Would all of you be willing do that same thing, to testify under oath, to take a lie detector test?
~ Hoboken, NJ, Mayor Dawn Zimmer on UP with Steve Kornacki

From MSNBC, UP with Steve Kornacki
. . . senior members of Gov. Chris Christie’s administration warned a New Jersey mayor earlier this year that her town would be starved of hurricane relief money unless she approved a lucrative redevelopment plan favored by the governor, according to the mayor and emails and personal notes she shared with msnbc.

In an exclusive interview, Zimmer broke her silence and named Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and Richard Constable, Christie’s community affairs commissioner, as the two officials who delivered messages on behalf of a governor she had long supported.

“The bottom line is, it’s not fair for the governor to hold Sandy funds hostage for the City of Hoboken because he wants me to give back to one private developer,” she said Saturday on UP w/ Steve Kornacki. “… I know it’s very complicated for the public to really understand all of this, but I have a legal obligation to follow the law, to bring balanced development to Hoboken.”

Constable and Christie – through spokespersons – deny Zimmer’s claims.





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Yes, Me! I tweeted this without seeing her tweet!



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Friday, November 15, 2013

Obamacare Equals Hurricane Katrina - Because IDIOTS

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Health Law Rollout’s Stumbles Draw Parallels to Bush’s Hurricane Response
. . . The disastrous rollout of his health care law not only threatens the rest of his agenda but also raises questions about his competence in the same way that the Bush administration’s botched response to Hurricane Katrina undermined any semblance of Republican efficiency.
~ Michael D. Shear on New York Times

Just like Katrina, when the big problem President Bush had was diminishing the significance of what was happening, saying ‘Hey, way to go, Brownie,’—you had the president yesterday talking about glitches and kinks. This is bigger than glitches and kinks. The one difference was Katrina was a storm, the health care law was Obama’s creation.
. . . Maybe the Iraq War is a better analogy.
~ Conservative pundit Ron Fournier on MSNBC

There are moments in a presidency where everything is different afterward and I believe this is that moment. For us, it was Hurricane Katrina because while public support had been dropping for the war in Iraq, after Katrina, after many members of the public and every member of the Democratic Party viewed us as incompetent and it transcended to everything else we did. You know, you can't look in a crystal ball but I believe this is a moment after which everything will be different for the President. And if you look at the problems he's facing in the world, with Iran and other issues, he's going to miss his credibility very much.
~ Former Bush Communications Adviser Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC's Morning Joe, via Esquire

President's struggle so much in their second term. Everybody remembers what happened to Bush after Katrina. All those questions about his competence took hold. His second term never really recovered. Is President Obama in that kind of a position right now?
~ George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America
































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Sunday, April 28, 2013

The Bush Library and Museum in Dallas

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source: facebook

There was a time in my life when I wasn't likely to be found in a library, much less found one.
~ President George W. Bush at the opening of his Library and Museum in Dallas, Texas

. . . the latest, grandest example of the eternal struggle of former presidents to rewrite history.
~ President Bill Clinton at the Library Opening

We've had enough Bushes.
~ George W. Bush's mother, Barbara Bush, on whether her son Jeb should run for President

Disasterpiece Theater . . . the Hard Rock Cafe of catastrophic policy decisions.
~ Jon Stewart on Comedy Central

What a bu!!sh*t rewriting of history. . . . They’re presidents. They’re not King Tut. Why do we have to build a mausoleum?
~ Bill Maher

The Bush Presidential Library is beautiful, and they have a huge section devoted to weapons of mass destruction, but nobody can find it.
~ David Letterman

In President Bush's high school yearbook, he was voted least likely to have a library named after him.
~ Jay Leno

Omission Accomplished
. . . “It looks like a theme park as much as it is a library,” according to Lou Dubose, co-author of “Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush’s America.” Dubose points out the library also includes freedom tower, a freedom plaza, a decision points library, the bullhorn Bush used to talk to first responders from ground zero, and even Saddam Hussein’s pistol.
“It’s kind of a parentheses around one of the greatest foreign policy blunders in our country’s history and they’re pretty shameless about it.”
. . . Dubose describes the “triumphalist narrative” on display at the library as “a neo-con rehash of all the terms that were used to lead the country into war.”
“One would expect a little bit of a modesty from a president who has presided over that sort of failure,” he said. “And from a president who’s competing in the bottom ten in terms of presidential rankings that are done by legitimate historians.”
~ Via MSNBC

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From Obama's Comedy Speech at White House
Correspondent's Dinner










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Friday, February 15, 2013

Carnival Cruise From Hell Dominates Cable News

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From ABC News
Luckily no one was hurt in the fire that triggered the power outage, but many passengers aboard the 900-foot colossus said they smelled smoke and were living in fear.
"You didn't know if the ship was going to explode, catch back on fire. You know, for a day or so, we didn't see any kind of sign of life. And so that's pretty scary when you're out there on the water," Robyn Burgess said.
Carnival's original plan was to tow the damaged ship to Progreso, Mexico, because it was the closest port, but by the time tugboats arrived, the ship had drifted about 90 miles north due to strong currents, putting it nearly equidistant to Mobile, Ala.
Carnival added that it has canceled a dozen planned voyages for the Triumph and acknowledged that the crippled ship had been plagued by other mechanical problems in the weeks before an engine-room fire left it powerless in the Gulf of Mexico.

"No ships were coming, no boats, were coming, we saw no helicopters," said Jenkins. "It scared us because we thought the ship wasn't notifying or coming out to help us."
It took more than a day before the first tugboat arrived. As passengers got cell reception, they shared photos revealing squalid conditions - sewage seeping through the floors, plastic bags used for restrooms. Tent camps above deck, and mattresses sprawled out below. For some, the hardest part was losing contact with their family.
~ CBS News


My heart goes out to those poor passengers stuck on that floating bedpan in the Gulf of Mexico. For four days, 4,000 people stuck on a ship with foul odors, the toilets aren't working, and there's long lines for food. And here's the worst part. The karaoke machine is still working.
~ Jay Leno

I want to say if any of you are alone today (Valentine's), it could be worse. You could be on a cruise ship right now — the most miserable cruise in the history of the world.
~ Conan O'Brien




David Letterman ~ Carnival Cruise Top Ten
Things People Said When Getting Off the Hell Cruise

10.You know, it's not the worst cruise I've taken.
9. I loved everything about the cruise, except the raw sewage.
8. I didn't find love but I did catch Campylobacteriosis.
7. Thanks for nothing, Superman.
6. He looks taller in films
(oh sorry, that's what people say getting off Tom Cruise).
5. Maybe I'm just not a cruise person.
4. I need a hot shower, then a lawyer.
3. Next time, we're taking an Italian Cruise.
2. I waited in line for six hours for an onion and mayonnaise sandwich,
and I'm not leaving till I get one.
1. Damn, I missed my connecting cruise.


NEW ORLEANS - Someone who suffered through the debacle of the Carnival Triumph cruise wasn't through with his travel troubles after he got on dry land.
"The bus literally breaks down," said Clark Jones . . . Jones, along with thousands of others, endured no water and no working bathrooms on the Triumph while at sea. The boat docked on dry land early Friday morning in Mobile, Ala.
But then, his transportation back home to Dallas had more problems.
"It comes to a stop in the middle of the highway," said Jones, a musician.
"We have to pull over to the side. It's dark. All the lights on the bus go out."
Those on the bus who endured the cruise of the Triumph had various reactions, from anger to humor.
"My son Jacob and I, when we pulled over and realized the bus was broken, we just started laughing. People were giggling. Other people were not happy. I don't know what you can do about that. Buses break down all the time."
~ NBC News






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The cruise company is making a gift to the travelers of the bathrobes they were using on the ship, the company announced Friday.
"Of course the bathrobes for the Carnival Triumph are complimentary," it said in a tweet on the official @carnivalcruise account.
But the announcement has been received with less than full-throated cheers.
"Who wants a stinky robe?!" tweeted a reporter in North Carolina, Astrid Martinez, while another user of the social media site, Natalie Eshaya, enthused sarcastically, "Oh how generous."
Another skeptic, Paul Nather, wondered "What do you think the going rate for a Carnival cruise bathrobe will be on eBay tomorrow?"
The white bathrobe has become an unlikely symbol of the nightmare of the cruise-goers, who donned them to attract attention as they stood on the drifting ship.
Others used the white terrycloth as a canvas to write messages, with one passenger proclaiming, "I survived Carnival's triumph redbags" -- a reference to the bags that substituted for toilets.
~ Agence France-Presse via Raw Story











They’re doing everything possible to make you forget that you’re on a boat. So what’s the point of having a boat? It’s just a hotel that might sink.
~ Steve Kornacki on MSNBC's The Cycle

I have a deep blood memory aversion to getting on a big boat. Maybe a little boat but not a big boat. They keep talking about nightmare cruise, I’m like, ‘Hello, the Middle Passage, that was a nightmare cruise."
~ Touré on MSNBC's The Cycle, referring to Slave Ships of the Middle Passage from Africa



Carnival Snooze
Oh, you were on a cruise for 8 days instead of four, and you didn’t run out of food or water, and you had trouble charging your cellphone, and all you got was a full refund, $500 bucks, a night in a hotel, and another free cruise? Yeah, you get 3,000 tiny violins, and a case of Purell®. Even white people are like, “Those are some white people problems.”
~ Mediaite

Happy Valentine's Day. I'd like to give a shout-out to all the lovers out there, some of whom are clearly lying . . . all the lovers out there who thought it would be a good idea to take their significant other on a cruise for the holiday and ended up stranded at sea for six days crapping into a plastic bag. Or as the Germans call that "The Love Boat."
. . . CNN has been on the case, for some reason giving this boat crisis wall-to-sh*t-covered-wall coverage, treating a stalled cruise ship like it's the Shackleton Expedition (to Antarctica).
(Plays CNN clip of people waving from ship to loved ones on shore.)
Yeah, you're not heroes, guys. It's not a hostage situation or a baby in a well. You reconnected them? They weren't supposed to see each other. They were on a cruise for a few days.
Meanwhile, the "ship of stools" enjoyed 24-7 coverage and a slow tugboat job back to Mobile, Alabama.
~ Jon Stewart of Comedy Central


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CNN Transcript 2 ~ The Erin Burnett Show Feb. 14, 2013

BURNETT: I mean, we've heard about it was listing. I mean, there had to be moments where you said, I'm vulnerable out there? Did you never feel that way?

KENNY: Yes, I mean, a little bit. You know, like I said I -- my personality is I have to take things in stride. I don't -- you know, I don't want to worry too much, but I don't want to get overexcited, but you know what I do remember is when you're on going through the, you know, the muster station drills and the safety procedures and they're talking about the worst thing that could happen on a ship is a fire, and you're like, yes, well, that's not going to happen.

BURNETT: Yes.

KENNY: And then, of course, you know, you're woken up at 5:30 a.m. by the captain saying Alpha team and you're putting two and two together, and then you smell smoke, and so, yes, that was a little unnerving so I think at that point you're like, we are out here in the Gulf and, you know, there's nothing out here. You know? And that was -- that was a little -- a little scary. We were dead in the water, I mean, for the -- you know, no other way to put it so.

SAVIDGE: And the isolation factor you described, this is the same sort of thing many people have gone through Katrina in New Orleans, those that were left behind, they never heard anything either. And it's -- your mind begins to race, you wonder if anybody knows the circumstance you're in. You think you're all alone and of course any rumor becomes solid fact and it spreads in a very closed environment so I imagined it's something very similar.

KENNY: Yes. But, you know, let's put that perspective. I mean Katrina was a major devastation.

SAVIDGE: True.

KENNY: We're on a freaking cruise ship and we were just all having a good time. So, you know, from that angle, and I get it because it is an isolation of communication, but two different things, you know, two different things. And it's just --

SAVIDGE: What was it like when you first were able to talk to someone?
BURNETT: Yes.

KENNY: That was great. Getting through to my wife, you know, being able to talk to my kids just for a little bit, just to say, hey, I'm out here, I'm all right, you know, was awesome to be able to do that. And you know, I mean, it's -- you know, you speak to them a couple of days, you're on a cruise, you know, and -- so that was good just to be able to have that, knowing that hey, I'm OK, you know, the ships were still here, we're not sinking or anything like that.

BURNETT: So would you -- will you go on a cruise again?
KENNY: I would.
BURNETT: Yes?
KENNY: Yes, I mean, you know, it's going to take a while. It's not going to be like next week or anything so --
(LAUGHTER)





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Thursday, January 3, 2013

Chris Christie's Speech Blasting Boehner and House for Lack of Sandy Aid

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From CNN Transcript

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: . . . Homes were damaged or destroyed. Nearly 7 million New Jerseyians were without power, some for up to 14 days. Nearly 600 state roads were closed. One hundred and twenty-seven shelters housed and fed over 7,000 evacuated citizens. All regional mass transit and Hudson River crossings were closed. All New Jersey schools were closed, some for weeks. Tens of thousands of businesses were damaged or destroyed, with many still closed. Our Jersey shore was devastated with the loss of homes, public buildings, and iconic symbols of New Jersey culture and economic vitality destroyed.

Tens of thousands of our citizens entered 2013 unsure of their future as they spent the holiday season displaced from all that was familiar and comforting. Thirty-one days for Andrew victims. Seventeen days for victims of Gustav and Ike. Ten days for victims of Katrina. For the victims of Sandy in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, this was 66 days and the wait continues.

There is only one group to blame for the continued suffering of these innocent victims, the House majority and their speaker, John Boehner. This is not a Republican or Democratic issue. National disasters happen in red states and blue states and states with Democratic governors and Republican governors. We respond to innocent victims of natural disasters, not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans. Or at least we did until last night.



Last night, politics was placed before our oath to serve our citizens. For me, it was disappointing and disgusting to watch. On January 19, 2010, I took an oath to serve all the people of New Jersey, without regard to race or ethnicity, gender or political affiliation. And for the last 1,079 days, I have worked as hard as I could to be loyal to that oath. Whether under the pressure of dealing with a legislature of the opposite party, or the scrutiny of a hotly contested election, I have always put the people of New Jersey and my oath ahead of petty, personal politics. Last night, the House of Representatives failed that most basic test of public service and they did so with callous indifference to the suffering of the people of my state.

If you want an example of how nonpartisan this issue should have been, I offer this for your consideration. Near midnight last night, conservative Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California both spoke on the floor in concert with each other and in support of this aid package. It's one for the record books, I suspect.

On the equities, this should be a no brainer for the House Republicans as well. Both New York and New Jersey used the international firm of McKenzie and Company to assess and quantify the damage to our states. Our professional staffs have spent countless hours with congressional staff providing leadership and backup documentation for all of the damage claims. Governor Cuomo and I have spent hours and hours speaking to individual members of the House and Senate, to answer their questions. We worked with President Obama and his administration and satisfied them of the urgent need of this $60 billion aid package.

This was good enough for 62 United States senators of both parties to vote for this package. This was good enough for s majority of the House of Representatives. It overcame all the factual challenges, it just could not overcome the toxic internal politics of the House majority.

Finally, New Jersey and New York are perennially among the most generous states in the nation to our fellow states. We vote for disaster relief for other states in need. We are donor states, spending -- sending much more to Washington, D.C., than we ever get back in federal spending. Despite this history of unbridled generosity, in our hour of desperate need, we have been left waiting for help, six times longer than the victims of Katrina, with no end in sight.

Americans are tired of the palace intrigue and political partisanship of this Congress, which places oneupmanship ahead of the lives of the citizens who sent these people to Washington, D.C., in the first place. New Jerseyians and New Yorkers are tired of being treated like second class citizens. New York deserves better than the selfishness we saw displayed last night. New Jersey deserves better than the duplicity we saw displayed last night. America deserves better than just another example of the government that has forgotten who they are there to serve and why. Sixty-six days and counting, shame on you. Shame on Congress.

Despite my anger and disappointment, my hope is that the good people in Congress, and there are good people in Congress, will prevail upon their colleagues to finally, finally put aside the politics and help our people now. That's the only hope we have left, is for the good people to prevail upon the others.

One thing I can assure the people of this region is this, Governor Cuomo and I will not stop fighting together to see that justice is done, and that our citizens suffering is finally addressed by this Congress.

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