Meanwhile, back in Texas....

Trumps's dream of what the world is saying about him

Frankly, Red Cross sucks.

“Every hot meal came from us,” [DeWitt ISD Superintendent Micah] Dyer said. “[School district employees] had to go to our pantries and walk-in coolers and get whatever we could get so people would have food.” Dyer says the Red Cross didn’t appear with supplies until the fourth day of the storm and didn’t bring enough cots or food for those housed in the shelter, he said. A significant portion of the Meals-Ready-to-Eat (MREs) the charity did bring had gone bad, he said.

And since this is the era of Trump:

In an interview with ProPublica, [Houston City Council member Dave] Martin said he ran into Gail McGovern, the charity’s CEO, in a parking lot several days after Harvey hit. When he raised his concerns to her, Martin said she responded: “Do you know how much we raised with Katrina? $2 billion. We won’t even raise hundreds of millions here.’ I just thought, ‘Really, Gail? That’s your response to me?’”

I know people here who were offered $400 by Red Cross, were told it was coming after they filled out the paperwork for it, and then never heard about it again. I know people who had the money deposited directly to their account, and then removed again a day later.

Friends who were flooded out got a bucket of cleaning supplies from Red Cross.  They said the bucket itself was so cheap and flimsy it was worthless, as were all the cleaning supplies.  They simply added it all to the trash pile in front of their house.  None of it was worth having, much of it was old, all of it was useless.

Even the local TV station that held a telethon to get people to call in and donate to Red Cross has now been critical of it, and reporting the failures of Red Cross.

I wouldn't waste a dime on them.  And as for the "A+" in Texas that Trump claims, well:

Federal Emergency Management Agency money for short-term relief like debris removal and some house repairs is already flowing to people and government agencies. But state lawmakers were told Monday that Housing and Urban Development disaster relief funds, which includes money for extensive home repairs or rebuilds, could take seven to 32 months to work their way through bureaucratic processes and several layers of government agencies.

“It could be some time,” Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush told the House Urban Affairs Committee.

That panel and the House Appropriations Committee met simultaneously Monday on the University of Houston campus to discuss local, state and federal responses to the worst rainfall event in U.S. history. And some officials and experts said they are already starting to worry that countless Texans will lose personal wealth they’d accumulated, slide deeper into poverty or become homeless.

“We may have a new crisis on our hands,” State Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio.

No, not just Houston.  Whole towns were obliterated by hurricane winds down the coast from Houston.  The Gulf Coast region, from Rockport (smashed to bits) to Port Arthur (where, the mayor says, just clearing debris to the landfill may take 6 more month) was devastated by wind and rain.   There is a legitimate concern expressed in the article that Houston will suck up the lion's share of the federal dollars, leaving the more rural areas and small towns with nothing.

The water's gone; the damage will be with us for years.  Many years, apparently.  But Trump has his "A+," and that's all that matters.