Trump commends ex-presidents as finest public servants

President Donald Trump has released a video message commending the five living ex- presidents appearing together at a hurricane relief concert in Texas, putting aside past criticism of his predecessors to call them “some of America’s finest public servants.”

Ex Presidents Grace Hurricane Relief Concert

Democrats Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter and Republicans George H.W. and George W. Bush are appearing together for the first time since 2013 to raise money for parts of Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands devastated by hurricanes.

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The concert in College Station, Texas, home of Texas A&M University features the country music band Alabama, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer ‘Soul Man’ Sam Moore, gospel legend Yolanda Adams and Texas musicians Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen.

“This wonderful effort reminds us that we truly are one nation under God, all unified by our values and devotion to one another,” Trump said yesterday in the video message recorded for the concert.

Texas A&M is home to the presidential library of the elder Bush. At 93, he has a form of Parkinson’s disease and uses a motorised scooter or a wheelchair for mobility, though he participated in the coin flip at February’s Super Bowl in his hometown of Houston.

George W. Bush was Texas governor before leaving for the White House and now lives in Dallas.

There is precedent for former presidents joining forces for post-disaster fundraising. George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton raised money together after the 2004 South Asia tsunami and Hurricane Katrina the next year. Clinton and George W. Bush combined to seek donations after Haiti’s 2011 earthquake.

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“It’s certainly a triple, if not a home run, every time,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston. “Presidents have the most powerful and prolific fundraising base of any politician in the world. When they send out a call for help, especially on something that’s not political, they can rake in big money.”

Amid criticism that his administration was initially slow to aid storm-ravaged Puerto Rico, Trump accused island leaders of “poor leadership,” and later tweeted that, “Electric and all infrastructure was disaster before hurricanes” while saying that Federal Emergency Management Agency, first- responders and military personnel wouldn’t be able to stay there forever.

But Rottinghaus said those attending Saturday’s concert were always going to be viewed more favourably since polling consistently shows that “any ex-president is seen as less polarising than the current president.”

“They can’t get away from the politics of the moment,” he said of current White House occupants. “Ex-presidents are able to step back and be seen as the nation’s grandfather.”

Hurricane Harvey slammed into Texas’ Gulf Coast as a Category 4 hurricane on Aug. 25, eventually unleashing historic flooding in Houston and killing more than 80 people.

Shortly thereafter, all five ex-presidents appeared in a commercial for a fundraising effort known as “One America Appeal.” In it, George W. Bush says, “People are hurting down here.” His father, George H.W. Bush, then replies, “We love you, Texas.”

A website accepting donations, OneAmericaAppeal.org, was created with 100 per cent of proceeds pledged to hurricane relief.

Hurricane Irma subsequently hit Florida and Hurricane Maria battered Puerto Rico, while both affected the US Virgin Islands. Organisers expanded the fundraising campaign to help those storm victims, too.
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No Power, No jobs in Puerto Rico

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MARIO TAMA

Leslie Cofresi started to cry when he saw his staff the day after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico.

With no electricity or running water in their own homes, all 25 employees came to help clean up the bar, La Factoria, which was recently named one of the world's 50 best bars.

Located in Old San Juan, La Factoria is also where the music video for the mega hit song "Despacito" was filmed.

But nearly a month after Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico's most famous bar is hanging on by a thread. It was closed for two weeks and crowds have been extremely thin since it recently reopened.

If Cofresi, the co-owner, can't get electricity back on soon, he knows he can't keep all his employees or even convince them to stay on the island.

"I don't know how far we can keep going like this...Our operations are not sustainable under these conditions here," says Cofresi, 35. "Educated people, young people: These are people that, their first reaction has to be, 'Well, I won't have a job.' They're leaving the island right now in droves."

Cofresi highlights two factors that are crippling Puerto Rico's recovery: Many people are facing dim job prospects, and some are simply leaving the island.

This for an island that, before Hurricane Maria hit, had a 10% unemployment rate -- more than double the national rate -- and was suffering from an ongoing exodus of young workers.

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Rising unemployment adds to Puerto Ricans' misery. Over 80% of the island still doesn't have electricity. About 40% of residents don't get a cell phone signal. About a third of Puerto Ricans lack running water.

And for some, losing their job felt like salt in the wound.

Christopher Canales says he worked 13 years as a waiter at the Melia Hotel, one of Puerto Rico's most luxurious.

But three weeks after Hurricane Maria hit, the Melia fired Canales and "most" of its 300 employees, a hotel spokesperson confirmed after CNNMoney obtained a letter sent to employees.

Canales suddenly had no job along with no electricity or running water. He and two of his four kids -- ages 4 and 14 -- went to Atlanta to stay with his brother-in-law. His other two children, teenagers, stayed with their mother in Puerto Rico.

He registered his youngest kids in Atlanta schools, but he suspects they may be moving to Florida at some point during the school year to reunite the entire family. A return home isn't in the cards.

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"Right now, I can't say that I'm going back," says Canales, 37. "If you don't have a job in Puerto Rico, the situation is really hard."

Melia International, the luxury hotel's parent company, which had 375 hotels and $3.3 billion in revenue last year, said it had no choice but to let go its employees in Puerto Rico.

A spokesperson said the property was destroyed by Hurricane Maria. The company hopes to rehire its former workers if they can reopen in the next six months. But that depends greatly on when the hotel gets electricity back.

"We are aware and very concerned about how this situation has personally affected our staff," a Melia spokesperson wrote in an email, adding that it says it's not the only hotel laying off workers.

Aixa Montes, a waitress at the Melia hotel restaurant for 10 years, still has no electricity in her home in Luquillo, a 40-minute drive from the capital, San Juan.

And now she has no job. Montes is one of many workers waiting on lone lines to receive jobless benefits.

"The lines are enormous in the unemployment insurance office. It's horrible," says Montes, 37.

It's hard to get reliable statistics on the problem because the continuing dysfunction on the island is affecting data collection.

Cofresi, the owner of La Factoria, says he hasn't fired any workers at his bar. He considers them like family. But everyone's hours have been cut back.

La Factoria is operating on a generator, and Cofresi is frustrated that FEMA and the Puerto Rican government haven't given him any idea when he can expect power to come back.

He worries that electricity will come back slowly, building by building. He's concerned that would create unfair competition.

"It's going to be this thing where your life's work is going to be up to luck," says Cofresi. "If you get electricity first, you'll survive. If you have to hold on three, four months without electricity while some other businesses next door has electricity ... you're not going to survive."

Some customers are coming back for La Factoria's signature drink: a lavender mule, a twist on the traditional Moscow mule.

Other bar regulars come to reconnect with friends and clear their minds, Cofresi says. Some just need to charge their cell phones so they can communicate with family.

"We have to start giving people a sense of normality," Cofresi says.

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College Student Guernica raised $82,000 through crowdfunding to Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief

Puerto Rico is still in shambles three weeks after Hurricane Maria, but a 22-year-old college student is going above and beyond to help.

The most recent aid to Puerto Rico after Maria was delivered by Rosana Guernica, a junior at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Guernica raised tens of thousands of dollars through crowdfunding and reserved a plane to deliver emergency supplies to Puerto Rico, her home. She bought thousands of pounds of supplies, such as baby formula, water, batteries and medicine.
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Guernica started soliciting donations on YouCaring, a crowdfunding site, one week after Maria hit, and she raised $7,000 in 24 hours, according to The Associated Press. By the following day, she had raised $11,000. So far, 786 donors have contributed to the cause, and donations exceed $82,000. Her YouCaring page was shared 1,800 times on Facebook.

"We are desperate to help the island and don't seem to know how. No one person can solve these issues. No one government can help the island," Guernica wrote in a description on YouCaring.

On Oct. 4, she used $20,000 of the donations to buy and transport more than 1,000 pounds of supplies to Puerto Rico. She also returned with six evacuees.

Guernica boarded a plane to Puerto Rico with a handful of volunteers from Carnegie Mellon and 2,000 pounds of supplies on Saturday. It was her second trip to the island since her crowdfunding efforts began, according to a tweet sent out through Carnegie Mellon's official Twitter account.

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CMU student Rosana Guernica is on her 2nd trip to #PuertoRico today w/team of CMU volunteers! They're bringing supplies & evacuating people.

8:08 PM - Oct 14, 2017

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"The supplies being collected are being held in inventory throughout the US and in the ports of San Juan," Guernica wrote in the YouCaring description. "By the time normal distribution channels open, it will be too late for the people who needed it most."

Three weeks after Maria, 90 percent of the island's residents still lack power. The storm hit the island with strong gusts of winds traveling at 155 mph. Residents have been struggling with food and water shortages, in addition to downed infrastructure. 

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