Post Sources: FEMA, NBC News, Washington Post, WRAL, Youtube
***** FEMA already setting up Florence relief operation at Fort Bragg
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is setting up its relief operation for Hurricane Florence even before the massive storm hits North Carolina.
FEMA tractor-trailers filled with water and non-perishable food began rolling in Monday at Simmons Army Airfield on Fort Bragg. Officials said the staging area will provide hurricane relief to South Carolina and parts of Virginia as well as to North Carolina.
Portable generators – some large enough to power a small city – sit on flatbed trailers at the staging area.
Gov. Roy Cooper said officials have learned from past hurricanes that flooded roads and downed trees and power lines can make it hard to get supplies distributed after the storm, so he asked FEMA to move some of the supplies closer to areas that are likely to be hardest hit by Florence.
On Tuesday afternoon, Cooper met with the FEMA team at Fort Bragg and was briefed on the supplies on hand.
"We've distributed to a number of areas now because we know that they will be needed," he said. "Food, water, supplies, cots, generators are already being distributed out there in places that we know will need it."
Meanwhile, about 80 Black Hawk and Apache Longbow helicopters flew out of Simmons Army Airfield earlier Tuesday to a location near Atlanta to get out of Florence's path.
The Black Hawk helicopters could be used to help with hurricane relief efforts, if requested by the governor. But the Apache helicopters are purely fighting machines and wouldn't be useful in hurricane relief.
"If we lose these aircraft to a storm, it impacts our ability to be ready in case of any type of contingency world-round," said LTC Bryan Hummel, of the 82nd Airborne Division's Combat Aviation Brigade. "So we got to make sure we get them out and get them in a safe location, and then when the storm's passed – a couple of days after that – most likely we'll go back and recover them back here, and we'll continue to start training."
Because the Apache helicopters cost $16 million to $20 million each, it's also cheaper to fly the 80 aircraft to Georgia that risk any of them being damaged in the storm.
HURRICANE FLORENCE ENCOURAGES MASS EXODUS TO SAFETY (EVACUATIONS):
MORE THAN ONE MILLION EVACUATIONS ORDERED BY SEVERAL GOVERNORS.
PREPARE AND PRAY - PSALM 91.
"9 Because you have made the Lord your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place,
10 There shall no evil befall you, nor any plague or calamity come near your tent.
11 For He will give His angels [especial] charge over you to accompany and defend and preserve you in all your ways [of obedience and service].
12 They shall bear you up on their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13 You shall tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the serpent shall you trample underfoot.
14 Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness—trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never].
15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation."
Post Sources: NY Times, CBS News, Youtube
**** Hurricane Florence Threatens Carolinas; 1 Million Ordered to Evacuate
With Hurricane Florence swiftly gaining strength and bearing down on the Southeast, Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina on Monday ordered more than a million people living in eight coastal counties to evacuate inland.
“We do not want to risk one South Carolina life in this hurricane,” the governor said at a news conference Monday afternoon.
Evacuations were also ordered in parts of North Carolina as the region braced for a major destructive hurricane projected to make landfall late Thursday or Friday, with damaging winds, torrential rains and a potentially destructive storm surge.
The South Carolina evacuation order takes effect at noon Tuesday. Governor McMaster said that lanes of two major divided highways — Interstate 26 and U.S. 501 — would be reversed to make the roads one-way, carrying traffic only away from the coast, and that two others may also be reversed if needed. Schools and state offices in about half the state would be closed starting on Tuesday, the governor said.
Hurricane Florence swiftly strengthened into a major storm on Monday as it churned across the Atlantic Ocean toward the coast of the Carolinas. By 5 p.m. Eastern Time, the storm had maximum sustained winds of 140 miles an hour with higher gusts, according to the National Hurricane Center, and “further strengthening is anticipated.”
The center upgraded the storm at noon to Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity, only an hour after upgrading it to Category 3.
Forecasting models show the hurricane headed for a landfall somewhere near the border of North Carolina and South Carolina. Destructive winds extending as far as 150 miles in all directions from the storm’s center may be felt on shore as soon as Wednesday night.
President Trump, who was criticized for his response to the crisis in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria last year, signaled that he was on top of this storm in a pair of tweets on Monday.
In coastal Dare County, N.C., the local emergency management agency announced a mandatory evacuation order that took effect Monday at noon, for all residents and visitors on Hatteras Island, the long, slender barrier island off the North Carolina coast.
A similar order will go into effect Tuesday for other nearby communities, including Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, Roanoke Island, Duck, Manteo, Southern Shores and the mainland portion of Dare County, according to a statement from the county.
Social media users reported that stores in both states were being bought out of bottled water and other supplies as residents prepared for the storm.
The hurricane center warned that in addition to damaging winds, the “extremely dangerous” storm posed two kinds of flooding threats — a storm surge of salt water along the coast, and freshwater flooding inland from very heavy rains — as well as dangerous surf and riptides along much of the Eastern Seaboard.
METRO DC BUDGET CUTS FORCES SYSTEM REFORM (TRUMP):
SLASHING METRO DC’S FEDERAL FUNDING WILL ALSO HELP ELIMINATE SYSTEMIC WASTE, FRAUD & POOR REGIONAL PLANNING.
BUDGET CUTS FORCES METRO DC TO MOVE INTO THE 21st CENTURY.
WILL METRO DC RETALIATE AGAINST MEDIA OUTLETS WHICH REPORT ON SYSTEMIC WASTE OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS?
GIVING METRO DC & WMATA MORE MONEY IS NOT THE ANSWER.
REFORMING AND RESTRUCTURING METRO DC IS THE ANSWER.
ALL METRO ACCESS DRIVERS SHOULD HAVE CDL LICENSES.
ALL DISPATCHERS SHOULD BE WMATA DISPATCHERS NOT CONTRACTORS.
ALL FARES SHOULD BE REASONABLE & AFFORDABLE.
METRO DC SHOULD OPERATE 24-HOURS.
TRAIN ALL WMATA & METRO EMPLOYEES ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT POLICIES.
Sources: Washington Post, WTOP, Youtube
****** Trump administration budget trims Metro subsidy instead of killing it, as feared
Metro got a little good news Monday when President Trump’s budget proposed to trim the agency’s federal subsidy to $120 million from $150 million rather than eliminate it, as feared.
But the White House and the Transportation Department also warned that they want to shrink federal support for Metro, at a time when the region’s top elected officials of both parties are seeking to increase such backing.
The office of Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) said earlier this month that the Trump administration planned to omit a critical grant for the transit agency from its budget for the 2019 fiscal year.
It wasn’t clear Monday whether the White House had changed its mind, possibly under pressure from Congress, or whether Warner and others had misread or overstated the administration’s intentions.
Either way, the Trump administration made clear it hopes the $30 million reduction is only the beginning of a decline in federal spending on Metro.
“The administration does believe that long-term, [the] federal role needs to be lessened, and reducing the federal contribution reflects that,” an Office of Management and Budget official said. “Federal direct subsidies and oversight should be curtailed.”
A Transportation spokeswoman said in a statement that “it makes sense for the Department to scale down” funding for Metro. The statement cited “constrained resources,” Metro’s advances in fixing safety issues, and progress in the District, Maryland and Virginia in raising funds on their own.
Warner and other local officials have been pressing the administration both to provide full federal funding for Metro and to increase such support. Two of the region’s top Republican officials — Rep. Barbara Comstock (Va.) and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan — have urged increased federal funding if Metro meets certain conditions.
Warner raised the alarm previously that the White House might scrap the Metro subsidy altogether. He said the administration believed the 10-year federal grant program for Metro has expired and cited a Federal Transit Administration briefing to Congress in the spring of 2017 that made that point.
OMB and the Transportation Department appeared to differ on that issue Monday. OMB said the authorization expires in 2019.
Transportation said it expires in fiscal 2018, but the White House proposes to continue direct funding at $120 million in fiscal 2019 anyway.
Metro welcomed Monday’s budget news and said it would work in Congress to reverse the proposed $30 million cut. Any reduction in funding would complicate Metro’s financial picture at a time when the agency is pushing for the federal grant program to be renewed to meet its considerable capital needs.
The grant money is used to purchase new rail cars, pay for track upgrades and replace aging equipment. The grant is part of the 2008 Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act, known as PRIIA.
“We appreciate the Administration’s recognition of the important safety and reliability investments Metro requires, as well as this acknowledgment of the critical role the system plays in the nation’s capital,” a Metro spokeswoman said in a statement. “We will continue to work with our congressional delegation and leadership on the Hill to ensure the full $150 million PRIIA funding is included in the federal FY19 appropriations.”
Warner sought to claim some credit Monday for what he portrayed as a reversal.
“Not long ago, the Administration was planning to zero out funding for [Metro] in its budget request to Congress,” Warner said in a statement. “I, along with other members of the Capital Region delegation, publicly pushed the Administration to honor the federal government’s ten-year commitment to Metro.
We’ll keep up the fight in Congress to ensure that Metro receives the full $150 million in federal funds that they are owed for the next fiscal year.”
The FTA’s position last spring that the 10-year Metro funding program expires this year was based on a technicality in the wording of the bill.
It appeared to leave open the possibility that the authorization ends in the current fiscal year. But the FTA also said that Congress could extend the authorization to make sure Metro got the full allotment.
“Every indication from the administration was that they were strongly considering omitting the funding from the budget request,” Warner spokeswoman Rachel Cohen said.
Comstock, the only Republican in Congress who represents a jurisdiction in the immediate Washington area, said she had not heard from anyone except Warner and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) that the White House was considering omitting the Metro grant.
“I’m not sure what happened there,” Comstock said. “As we have in the past, we’ll fight for the full $150 million.”
Warner issued the warning about the administration’s plans at the same time that he, Kaine, and the two Democratic senators from Maryland — Chris Van Hollen and Benjamin L. Cardin — wrote to OMB Director Mick Mulvaney and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao urging continuation of the PRIIA funds.
FEDERAL FUNDING FOR THE DMV’s METRO SYSTEM SHOULD BE HALTED UNTIL PEOPLE SEE CHANGE.
METRO PASSENGERS & DMV BLACK VOTERS DESERVE TO BE RESPECTED.
DISABLED & SENIOR PASSENGERS ALSO DESERVE TO BE RESPECTED.
Sources: WTOP, NBC News, Washington Post, House.gov, YouTube
District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia all share the responsibility of managing a massive public transportation system called the METRO.
More than 600,000 people utilize the METRO System each week to travel to Work and other various reasons.
The METRO operates via Federal Funding and extremely high-priced, unregulated Passenger Fares.
It’s unregulated because each region is legally allowed to charge passengers whatever the Elected officials choose to for service.
Unlike New York’s very well-organized MTA Public Transportation system, the DMV’s METRO System can legally charge riders up to three different Fares for just one trip.
Yet despite receiving Billions and Billions of Federal dollars, along with daily Fares from passengers the DMV’s METRO Public Transportation system remains plagued with:
***** Poor Service levels (Late Arrivals),
Poorly trained Operators,
Waste & Abuse of Federal Funds,
No Accountability,
Black Management Employees with Bad Attitudes who consistently display Poor Customer Service especially to Black patronage,
Corrupt Private Contracts (Dispatchers), Preventable Accidents,
Broken Escalators (SUITLAND),
Workplace Drama (Adulterous Affairs & Sexual Harassment) which adversely impacts Employee Performance,
Top Heavy Management who are in it only for MONEY,
Nepotism,
etc.
Metro would get billions more in federal funding in exchange for a more powerful inspector general and better service under a new proposal to be introduced in Congress.
The region’s Democrats led by Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly are proposing to continue current federal funding of $150 million per year for capital projects, but would add another $50 million per year to support Metro’ operations for the first time plus $2 billion in additional cash over 20 years.
The proposed funding is dependent on a more independent inspector general, and that Metro would meet targets set by the U.S. Department of Transportation for better, safer, more cost effective service.
Among other competing proposals on Capitol Hill, Virginia Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock’s bill would require different reforms and provide significantly less money than the Democrats’ new proposal. She is the only Republican in Congress whose district includes a Metro station.
Even that bill has yet to have a hearing in the Republican-led House, so the prospects for the Democrats’ bill appear dim at best. Comstock opposes the latest proposal.
“It’s unfortunate that in the 9 years it took Gerry Connolly to write an 8-page bill, he failed to include any of the substantial management, financial or pension reforms advocated on a bipartisan basis by numerous transportation experts and Metro advocates who have been working for years to seriously improve and reform the system.
Throwing billions more at Metro without defined reforms is a dead on arrival strategy,” Comstock said in a statement.
General Manager Paul Wiedefeld has said additional money is needed beyond current levels to pay for maintenance and repairs that were put off for decades.
Without additional federal money, local taxpayers would have to foot the bill alone. Maryland, Virginia and D.C. are considering legislation to boost their share of dedicated funding for Metro.
The co-sponsors of the newly introduced bill with Connolly are Maryland’s Steny Hoyer, Jamie Raskin, Anthony Brown and John Sarbanes; Virginia’s Don Beyer; and D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton.
Raskin and Brown had also introduced their own Metro bill that tracked transit union recommendations.
A separate bill from Maryland Democrat John Delaney would require changes to Metro’s collective bargaining structure and the size of Metro’s Board in exchange for an extra $750 million over 10 years.
A partisan split in the Washington area’s congressional delegation over how to increase federal funding for Metro has raised concerns that the lack of unity will lead Congress to balk at giving the transit system critically needed support.
The division emerged Tuesday when Democratic House members from the area filed a Metro funding bill that would double the federal subsidy to the transit agency and be more friendly to its unions than legislation proposed by Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock (Va.).
The House bill, a copy of which was obtained in advance by The Washington Post, would raise the federal contribution to the transit agency from $150 million a year to $300 million a year for 10 years. Comstock’s bill would increase it by 50 percent, to $225 million annually.
The Democrats’ legislation also would provide a federal subsidy for Metro’s operating costs. That would be a significant change. The grants Metro receives — such as other direct federal subsidies for public transit — pay only for capital investments.
In perhaps the most important difference from Comstock’s bill, the Democrats’ legislation would not require the creation of a five-member reform board with power to revise existing union contracts and take other steps to restrain labor costs.
Instead, it addresses concerns about Metro’s performance by requiring that the agency to strengthen its Office of the Inspector General and meet targets for safety, reliability and cost efficiency as conditions for receiving the extra money.
“The other bill almost reads punitive when it comes to labor unions and the workforce,” said Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (Va.), the lead sponsor of the Democratic legislation. “We don’t tell Metro they have to vitiate existing labor contracts,” or weaken pension guarantees or limit overtime, as Comstock’s bill does, he said.
Connolly said his bill has support throughout the Washington region. Co-sponsors, all Democrats, include Reps. Anthony G. Brown, Steny H. Hoyer, Jamie Raskin and John Sarbanes, all of Maryland; Rep. Don Beyer (Va.); and D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton.
But Comstock’s bill, which she filed in December, has the advantage of being sponsored by a member of the party that controls both the House and the Senate. Her bill, which was drafted in consultation with regional business leaders, including some Democrats, also reflects their support for replacing the 16-member Metro board with a reform board designed to improve the agency’s governance.
Comstock defended her bill in a statement Tuesday and faulted the Democrats’ legislation for not requiring specific management reforms on pensions and overtime supported by Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld.
“Throwing billions more at Metro without defined reforms is a dead-on-arrival strategy,” Comstock said. “It’s unfortunate that in the nine years it took Gerry Connolly to write an eight-page bill, he failed to include any of the substantial management, financial or pension reforms advocated on a bipartisan basis by numerous transportation experts and Metro advocates who have been working for years to seriously improve and reform the system.”
The differences between the parties’ bills aggravated concerns among Metro supporters that Congress will be reluctant to endorse a package that lacks unified support from the region.
“What’s so discouraging about this is, it really undercuts the bipartisan necessity of getting a federal funding source for Metro,” said Gus Bauman, a former chairman of the Maryland Blue Ribbon Transportation Funding Commission. “To have an all-Democratic bill and an all-Republican one does no one any good.”
The Democrats’ decision to take on Comstock appears aimed in part at hurting her chances of positioning herself as an effective champion of Metro when she seeks reelection in November. Comstock, whose Northern Virginia district has been trending Democratic, is viewed as vulnerable.
“I don’t know their true motivations, but they must be intensely aware that giving a major victory on Metro funding to Barbara Comstock would be an enormous benefit to her reelection chances this year,” said Mark J. Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.
MetroNow, a coalition of leading business groups and nonprofit organizations, issued a statement applauding Connolly’s leadership, but warned that the region’s politicians need to work together on Metro.
“This is a critical time when our leaders must collaborate instead of compete against one another,” the group said.
While the region’s federal representatives trade jabs, there have been signs recently of a narrowing of partisan differences in Maryland and Virginia, where state lawmakers are considering bills to provide Metro with dedicated funding.
Numerous political obstacles remain to the legislation in both states, but many Metro supporters and political veterans say there is unprecedented momentum for change. The federal bickering adds another hurdle.
The Democrats’ position partly reflects their desire to represent the interests of labor, an important part of their political base.
Brown noted that his congressional district, which includes portions of Prince George’s County, is home to more Metro workers than any other, and said “they deserve a voice” in the debate about the agency.
“It’s mistaken to believe that Metro’s problems are excessive labor costs,” Brown said. “I don’t think you need to mess around with their pensions and arbitration, or somehow blow up or reform the board, and think that’s going to solve it.”
The Connolly and Comstock bills have one thing in common: They call for extending and increasing a $150 million annual federal subsidy for Metro that is scheduled to expire after the fiscal year ending in 2019.
Connolly’s bill would do so in two steps.
First, it would extend the program, part of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act (PRIIA), for 10 years and increase the subsidy to $200 million a year. Of that, $150 million would continue to be for capital investment. The District, Maryland and Virginia would continue making a matching contribution totaling $150 million.
The additional $50 million in the Connolly bill would go to operations. Of the latter, $10 million would be for Metro’s inspector general. This money would not require a local match.
Obtaining federal money for operating expenses — such as wages, fuel and electricity — would be a breakthrough long sought by many Metro supporters. They have complained for years that the District, Maryland and Virginia pay for all of Metro’s operating subsidies even though the federal government depends on the system to get its workers in the Washington area to their jobs.
“I have always believed that the federal government gets a free ride,” Connolly said. “The largest single user of Metro every day is the federal government.”
The condition for extending and increasing PRIIA money would be to strengthen the Office of the Inspector General by giving it new powers, including independent budget, procurement and hiring authority. Congress and others have pressed for a more robust IG to hold Metro accountable.
The second part of the funding plan in Connolly’s bill would give Metro an additional $100 million a year in grants for capital investment for 20 years. These federal grants also would have to be matched by a total of $100 million annually contributed by the three jurisdictions.
For the first five years, the additional money would be subject to the condition of Metro meeting performance bench marks set by the U.S. transportation secretary together with the District, Maryland and Virginia.
The secretary would grant the money each year only after certifying that Metro was “making progress toward goals and metrics for system performance established by the Secretary in collaboration with the signatories to the [Metro] Compact on safety, reliability and operations costs as measured by vehicle revenue miles,” the bill says.
For the remaining 15 years, the $100 million a year in additional grants would be conditioned on continued progress toward the goals and metrics, plus the establishment of a dedicated funding source by the District, Maryland and Virginia of at least $300 million a year.
WHY NOT REPLACE CONTRACTORS WITH UBER & LYFT DRIVERS?
METRO ACCESS GROWING PROBLEMS INCLUDE.......
POLITICALLY-RIGGED CONTRACTS,
POOR MANAGEMENT,
HORRIBLE PERFORMANCE LEVELS,
SEVERE RETALIATION AGAINST WHISTLE BLOWERS,
EXTREME DISORGANIZATION,
RARE ON-TIME PICK-UPS, DISABLED PASSENGERS FORCED TO RIDE FOR HOURS,
NEPOTISM,
DISPATCHERS DON'T KNOW WHERE DRIVERS ARE,
POWER STRUGGLES, SEXUAL HARASSMENT,
HOTBED FOR SINGLE WOMEN LOOKING FOR SUGAR DADDIES IN THE WORKPLACE.
Users of Metro’s service for the elderly and people with disabilities say they have recently endured hours-long waits for rides, spent entire afternoons in vans traveling nonsensical routes and watched as fellow riders soiled themselves on unreasonably long trips.
The routes that MetroAccess drivers must follow are not only unnecessarily long, but sometimes also take them in the opposite directions from their destinations, say customers, including some who are blind, medically fragile or use wheelchairs. One former customer said her doctor recommended she stop using the service to get to her lung cancer treatments because it was too stressful.
For MetroAccess’s 43,000 registered customers, the problems began last September with a sudden, seven-point drop in on-time performance. The share of excessively late trips nearly tripled from the month before. Metro officials have blamed soaring numbers of late and missed trips on a driver shortage.
“I feel like because I have a disability, I’m being treated like less than everyone else,” said Shannon Minnick, 46, who is quadriplegic and uses a wheelchair.
Minnick, of Silver Spring, said she recently missed a doctor’s appointment after spending more than 2½ hours in a MetroAccess van for what is typically a 25-minute ride. On another recent trip, a driver taking her home from Rockville first picked up someone in Kensington, five minutes from her home, and then drove another passenger to north Silver Spring before heading south again to drop her off.
Nancy Childress, 63, of West Springfield, Va., recalled how one MetroAccess trip took so long this winter that another passenger soiled herself after being in the van for two to three hours.
“She couldn’t help it,” said Childress, who has trouble walking and balancing from being hit by a car two decades ago.
The driver disinfected the van, and they went on their way, Childress said.
Heidi Case, a disability advocate, said she knew a woman who almost called the police, frantic that she hadn’t heard from her severely disabled daughter who had been stuck in a van for more than two hours.
Those are the kinds of “disastrous things that are happening,” Case said. “It is a significant quality-of-life change.”
On-time performance remains near its lowest level since at least mid-2013. In April, 88 percent of customers were picked up on time — better than the 83 percent in the fall but still below Metro’s minimum target of 92 percent.
By April, the number of trips deemed “excessively late” — more than 20 minutes past the half-hour pickup window — had nearly doubled since last summer, from about 2,400 a month to 4,700. Incidents in which the driver never showed also doubled to almost 1,500 in April.
The number of botched and excessively late trips make up a relatively small portion — about 3 to 4 percent — of MetroAccess’s overall service. But with about 8,000 trips a day, the percentages mask thousands of missed appointments, late arrivals at work and frustrated customers who rely on the service to live independently.
While high driver turnover has been a problem in the paratransit industry for decades, Metro officials say the growth in services such as Uber and Lyft has further cut into the driver pool. The shortage worsened just as ridership was picking up from the summer lull, Metro officials said, even though the agency’s own data shows usage actually dropped by 9,500 passengers between August and October.
Christian Kent, Metro’s assistant general manager for access services, said contractors were down about 100 drivers in September, leaving the companies 10 percent short of the 1,000 needed for full service. As the driver shortage increased throughout the fall, Kent said, on-time performance couldn’t recover, even in months when ridership dropped.
“The contractors experienced a more competitive driver market than they have had to deal with in the past, and the number of people who applied for jobs with MetroAccess was lower than we’ve seen in the past,” Kent said.
Transit agencies are required to provide paratransit service under the Americans With Disabilities Act, and MetroAccess is the fifth-largest such program in the country. Usage has more than doubled in the past 14 years, from just under a million trips in 2003 to more than 2 million trips. It is the agency’s fastest-growing and most expensive service.
Metro spends about $100 million annually to provide Metro¬Access service via five contractors. The transit agency subsidizes 92 percent of the costs, with the rest covered by fare revenue.
Rides cost two times the equivalent bus or rail fare, with a maximum $6.50, for a trip that costs the agency an average of $50.
Customers must make a reservation a day in advance and are given a 30-minute pickup window. As a ride-sharing service, there are typically multiple passengers per van.
Many of those who rely on MetroAccess cannot easily navigate Metro or afford taxis or ride-hailing services.
Kent said a trip is considered late if it is even one minute outside the 30-minute pickup window.
Just because on-time performance dropped, he said, that doesn’t mean “that suddenly every trip is egregiously late.”
Contributing to the problem are the computer-generated routes that drivers are required to follow — even if they don’t make sense in terms of geography or time.
Documents obtained through a public records request show that MetroAccess contractors began “dropping” routes at a precipitous clip last August, meaning the companies didn’t have enough drivers to accept all the trips that the computer assigned them.
During some months last fall, as many as 1,337 trips had to be reassigned among available drivers.
Fewer drivers means those on hand must cover larger areas and have more trips tacked on to their routes, Kent said. Accommodating these “add-on” trips causes the circuitous routes that customers have complained about.
Steve Polkinghorn, of Burke, Va., said his commute home from his job in Arlington County used to rarely exceed 90 minutes. Now it can take more than two hours. That’s because the drivers who pick him up at his Crystal City office often head into the District to pick up another passenger before turning around and slogging through traffic back to Northern Virginia to take him home.
“Why am I driving due north when I live due south?” said Polkinghorn, who has multiple sclerosis.
Cindy LaBon, who is blind, said out-of-the-way routes have left her and her guide dog stuck in a van up to three hours.
In the fall, LaBon said, a fellow passenger who was mentally disabled began crying after the driver passed her street to drop off someone else miles way. The woman had already been in the van for three hours on a trip from Lanham to Silver Spring.
Two weeks ago, LaBon said, she spent more than two hours trying to get from Burtonsville to Gaithersburg — both in Montgomery County — in a van that first took her to Northwest Washington.
“They don’t know geography,” LaBon, 68, said of whoever sets the drivers’ routes. “They don’t even put trips [together] going in the same direction.”
While the computer suggests three options, staff members in the scheduling center can override the software, Kent said.
“On days when we have surging ridership and depleted drivers to route, sometimes the dispatchers don’t have an ideal choice coming out of the computer,” Kent said. “We are very much aware of the issue.”
Metro has fined the three companies that provide drivers — Transdev, First Transit and Diamond Transportation — almost $1 million each in contract “damages” since the fall.
But Metro officials say they’ve also cut the companies a financial break to help them hire more drivers. The agency has greatly reduced future financial penalties, in some cases by 90 percent, for six months, according to Metro. Transdev also has been allowed to use temporary drivers, a Metro spokeswoman said. And the agency recently agreed to pay the contractors “slightly” more so they could raise wages.
“It’s very difficult for them to put out the extra cash to pay drivers at a higher wage scale if, simultaneously, we’re taking the money back from them in damages,” Kent said.
Transdev, the company responsible for half of MetroAccess rides, blamed the sudden downturn on the difficulty of recruiting drivers, “given the current robust labor force and low unemployment rate.” The company said it had been fully staffed a year before the performance drop, but suddenly attrition rose and driver training classes shrank. Meanwhile, ridership increased in the fall just as back-to-school-and-work traffic jumped.
First Transit, which is responsible for 35 percent of Metro¬Access trips, said it faces the same problems attracting drivers. By fall, the company was short 35 to 50 drivers, spokesman Jay Brock said last month, and the workforce hadn’t fully recovered. Brock said the company is participating in job fairs, increasing its marketing and undertaking grass-roots efforts to attract new hires.
“We’re screening, interviewing, taking [applicants] through our background checks and trying to get them on the road and behind the wheel,” Brock said.
John Gray, acting project manager at MV Transportation, which manages the MetroAccess call center, directed reporters’ questions to Metro.
Kate Walden, a spokeswoman for Diamond Transportation, which provides 15 percent of MetroAccess trips, said driver shortages are occurring nationwide. She said the company is now “nearly fully staffed” for MetroAccess and is “aggressively recruiting to ensure we have a full complement of drivers this summer.”
A union representing paratransit drivers says Metro is letting contractors off the hook for poor service. A key problem, they say, remains the “poverty wages” drivers receive. The companies recently agreed to increase wages to at least $15 an hour, union officials said. For example, Transdev drivers who were making $13.85 an hour saw their wages increased to $16 an hour.
“You cannot operate a public service with a sweatshop employment model,” said Todd Brogan, a union organizer with Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1764 at a recent demonstration urging Metro to stop using contractors for paratransit.
[Transit service for elderly, people with disabilities sees sharp decline]
Kent said training classes are now full and efforts continue to hire more drivers to meet the growing demand. The agency said late Friday that they were fully staffed. Metro also recently began receiving 207 new vans to replace older ones and expand the fleet by 25 vehicles.
The five-year MetroAccess contract expires in June 2018, and the agency is putting the new one out for bid. The agency also is exploring ways to partner with Uber, Lyft and other transportation services to provide same-day paratransit service at a fraction of the cost.
Kent said MetroAccess will improve, even as the number of people needing it continues to grow.
“There’s really not a choice,” Kent said. “MetroAccess is our responsibility to our customers with disabilities. We must provide it under the ADA, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.
STEVE BANNON'S EXIT, TRUMP'S IMPEACHMENT, RACISM PERSONIFIED:
WILL TRUMP BE A ONE TERM PRESIDENT?
Steve Bannon's exit from the Trump White House as Chief Strategist isn't the big new story being pushed by Mainstream Media windbags.
The firing of Bannon and Reince Preibus is all apart of how the Political "Thank you for helping me Win" game is played.
"You help me Win, I'll give you a cushy job and after about 6 mos to a year I will let you go and make it appear as we have beef."
Calm Down People.
it's just a Political game!
Not everyone who helps a Politician Win elections will be so blessed to be "Thanked" by being rewarded with a great paying job but nevertheless it's how the game is played.
Donald J Trump won't be IMPEACHED, just as Obama wasn't IMPEACHED but fairly tales of Impeachment attracts views and Wealthy SPONSORS to a News Source.
Following the firing of Steve Bannon Pres Trump needs to take a stand on RACISM.
There are many BLACK voters who helped Trump win in Nov 2016.
However now those BLACK supporters can Not get JOBS and are being Ostracized.
In addition RACISM and DIVISION are still hotbed issues in this nation.
So will Pres Trump risk alienating some of his far right Caucasian and ILLUMINATI supporters many of whom want to see BLACK people remain Disenfranchised in the USA?
Or will Trump take a stand and publicly admit that BLACK people who live on American soil should be treated as HUMAN BEINGS with Unalienable Rights?
PLEASE PRAY
"What's unalienable cannot be taken away or denied. Its most famous use is in the Declaration of Independence, which says people have unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Sources: NBC News, YouTube
***** Steve Bannon's Exit Prompts Backlash From Core Trump Backers
WASHINGTON — Steve Bannon’s exit from the White House drew an immediate backlash from his allies in the party’s populist wing, who fear their agenda is becoming sidelined within the Trump administration.
“I don’t have any longer the expectations that Trump even can keep the rest of his promises," Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, told NBC News on Friday after the announcement that the chief strategist would be leaving the administration.
The uproar threatens to divide Trump’s supporters during the most difficult stretch of his presidency yet and before a critical legislative push next month in which Congress must raise the debt ceiling, pass a budget, and make headway on tax reform.
Trump has faced withering criticism in recent days, including from members of his own party, over his response to the violence at last weekend's white nationalist demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, and his defense of "very fine people" who marched with neo-Nazis there.
Trump thanked Bannon early Saturday in a tweet, saying: "He came to the campaign during my run against Crooked Hillary Clinton - it was great!"
King, whose hardline immigration stance made him a popular figure at Breitbart News, which Bannon ran before joining Trump's campaign, said the White House was being taken over by “northeasterners” instead of ideological conservatives, which "really hurts the long-term strategy of the Trump administration.”
Breitbart announced late Friday afternoon that Bannon had rejoined the news site as executive chairman.
In an MSNBC appearance on Friday, Pollak said Trump had so far satisfied his base’s concerns, but warned "if he veers away, if he pulls an Arnold Schwarzenegger and tries to reinvent himself as liberal, he will see that support erode very, very quickly."
While Breitbart was a critical early supporter of the president’s political rise, running interviews and favorable articles even before he announced his candidacy, their backing has not been absolute and their coverage has taken a special interest in Trump’s staffing decisions.
When Trump feuded with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a popular figure among immigration restrictionists, the site pushed back with stories declaring that he “embodies the movement” Trump led and that his exit would “endanger the administration.”
More recently, Breitbart portrayed Bannon’s shaky status as part of a war for control of the White House between “economic nationalists,” the web site's favored side, and “globalists” like chief economic adviser Gary Cohn, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and Deputy National Security Adviser Dina Powell, all of whom featured prominently in the site's coverage.
Breitbart White House reporter Charlie Spiering’s reporting straightforwardly referred to the trio as “Bannon’s enemies in the White House” and the coverage has portrayed Cohn as too close to the financial world (he’s a former Goldman Sachs executive) and McMaster as overly hawkish on Afghanistan and weak on Islamic terror groups.
Trump weighed in on both McMaster and Bannon during the conflict, saying that McMaster was “a good man, very pro-Israel” in a statement earlier this month and telling reporters on Tuesday that Bannon was “a good man” and “not a racist” while hinting at his possible departure.
The anti-McMaster chatter grew loud enough to draw in figures like Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who decried a “disgraceful” campaign against him by the “alt right” in a statement this week. "Such smear tactics should not be tolerated and deserve an emphatic response," he said.
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page also backed McMaster, drawing corresponding coverage in Breitbart with headlines like “Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal Tries to Take Over Trump White House for McMaster, Globalists.”
The tensions only escalated when Bannon called a reporter at the liberal publication The American Prospect and undercut the administration’s tough talk on North Korea’s nuclear program, saying “there’s no military solution” with acceptable losses and that “they got us.”
On the the other end of the political spectrum, Bannon’s ouster could be a small step toward easing tensions with elected Republicans upset over Trump’s Charlottesville response and who had previously expressed concerns about Bannon’s role.
Bannon, who once called Breitbart "the platform for the alt-right," had long been decried by anti-hate groups over his site's coverage, which included a tag for stories on "black crime" and ran op-ed articles by far right European politicians. In the days leading up to his exit, Reps. Pete King, R-N.Y., and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., had both explicitly called for his firing.
“Those who relish culture wars & celebrate political polarization have no place leading a country in profound need of healing & unity,” Congressman Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., tweeted in response to the news.
CORRECTION (Aug. 18, 6:31 p.m.): A previous version of this article misstated the title of Joel Pollack at Breitbart News. He is senior editor-at-large, not editor-in-chief
DOUGLAS ALEXANDER HERRERA HERNANDEZ ARRESTED FOR MURDER (ICE AGENTS):
MS-13 GANG MEMBER CAPTURED FOR MURDER IN VIRGINIA.
HERRERA-HERNANDEZ WILL BE DEPORTED BACK TO EL SALVADOR.
TRUMP'S NATIONAL SECURITY AGENDA IS WORKING.
Sources: ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, WTOP, Youtube
***** Known gang member arrested in Va. for Texas homicides
X known MS-13 gang member wanted in connection with two homicides in Texas was caught in Arlington, Virginia.
Arlington County police, along with federal agents, arrested 20-year-old Douglas Alexander Herrera-Hernandez on Saturday, while he was walking near Four Mile Run Drive and Columbia Pike.
The Texas Department of Public Safety issued an all-points bulletin for Herrera’s arrest on July 26. Local law enforcement and ICE agencies received information that the suspect was possibly in Virginia.
Herrera is wanted in connection with two murders in the Houston area. The first warrant is for a shooting in Missouri City, Texas, on June 13, 2016; the second is in connection to a homicide on July 9, 2017.
Herrera, a Salvadoran national known as “Terror,” was one of the 10 most wanted fugitives in Texas, according to an ICE statement.
ICE records indicate that Herrera was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol in December 2014 when he entered the country illegally in Texas.
An immigration judge ordered his removal to El Salvador after Herrera failed to appear in court in June 2015 for his hearing.
Herrera is in jail in Arlington County, pending extradition to Texas.
OTTO WARMBIER'S MYSTERIOUS MURDER WARNS AMERICA TO STAY OUT OF N. KOREA:
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED TO OTTO IN NORTH KOREAN CUSTODY??
Post Sources: Daily Mail, WCPO, YouTube
**** Hell on earth: Otto Warmbier's death from mystery brain damage brings fresh scrutiny to the horrors of North Korea's brutal torture camps
Focus on brutality of North Korean labor camps renewed by death of US student
Otto Warmbier, 22, died Monday following 17 months as North Korean prisoner
Was released after suffering mysterious brain damage while in regime's custody
North Korea believed to have as many as 120,000 imprisoned in brutal camps
Reports abound of torture, rape and public executions in political prison camps
Warmbier's death brings new scrutiny to regime's longstanding brutalities
Yet other American prisoners speak of their gentle treatment as foreigners.
Beatings, rape, starvation and sick public executions are a daily reality for thousands of North Koreans, according to years of witness testimony.
Now, the death of a US student following mysterious brain damage suffered while a prisoner in the isolated state has brought fresh scrutiny to the regime's brutal torture camps under leader Kim Jong-Un.
Otto Warmbier died on Monday at age 22, just days after his release from North Korea in a vegetative state following 17 months in custody.
Warmbier's doctors in Cincinnati said that the student had suffered 'extensive loss of brain tissue in all regions of his brain' consistent with oxygen deprivation for a prolonged period.
The isolated North Korean regime is believed to have as many 120,000 political prisoners in its harsh labor camps, where grotesque stories of torture offer among the few clues to Warmbier's fate.
In a 2014 report, the United Nations Human Rights Commission called North Korea 'a state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world' due to the country's 'systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations'.
Beatings are widespread in the camps, in which guards are given near-absolute authority to abuse and kill prisoners, according to survivors who have survived to speak out.
Escapees have said that the sounds of beatings were so extreme each night that it was impossible to sleep.
Yet Warmbier's doctors have said that extensive scans have revealed no evidence of broken or fractured bones, including to his skull. They also found no damage to his neck tissue that could indicate strangulation.
One woman interviewed for the UN report, who had been imprisoned for practicing Christianity, told of a torture room with a water tank in which suspects could be immersed to simulate drowning.
'She indicated that she was fully immersed in cold water for hours,' the report said. 'Only when she stood on her tip-toes would her nose be barely above the water level. She could hardly breathe. She was gripped by panic, fearing that she might drown.'
Could drowning explain the oxygen deprivation event that damaged Warmbier's brain so severely? Possibly, but doctors have not said they've found any evidence indicating that's the case.
Other baroque torture methods of the North Korean regime have come to light as well.
One Ministry of People’s Security official who defected revealed that the agency made use of small metal cages in the Pyongyang offices of its pre-trial investigative bureau.
'Victims would be crammed into the cage for several hours so that the circulation of blood to extremities becomes interrupted and other parts of the body swell up,' according to the UN report.
The victim turns into a rusty brown color. After removal from the cage, the victim is abruptly “unfolded” causing further excruciating pain,' the report said.
The same witness recalled receiving formal training on torture techniques, including 'how to cut off a suspect’s blood circulation using straps, while simultaneously placing the suspect in physical stress positions in order to inflict the maximum level of pain.'
Notably, most foreign prisoners of the North Korean regime report significantly more gentle treatment, presumably because they are considered geopolitical bargaining chips.
Matthew Todd Miller, a California man who was sentenced to six years in a North Korean labor camp in 2014, was released six months later and said that he was treated relatively well.
'I was prepared for the torture. But instead of that, I was killed with kindness,' he said in an interview with NK News.
Miller's case is unique though, in that he entered North Korea with the intention to defect, and he was detained after he was asked to leave the country and refused.
In 2013, Merrill E. Newman, an 85-year-old former US Army officer who served in the Korean War, was accused of war crimes and held by North Korea for 42 days.
Most of that time he spent confined in a hotel in Pyongyang, were Swedish consular officials who had access to him said he was well cared for and had even received needed medical attention for a heart condition.
In Warmbier's case, the official story from Pyongyang is that the student contracted botulism shortly after he was sentenced last spring in a show trial for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster from his hotel.
The North Koreans claim a sleeping pill put Warmbier into a coma from which he never awoke.
The astonishing claim is almost certainly false - doctors found no evidence of botulism, and a sleeping pill would not be indicated in the case of that rare illness, which is treatable with an antitoxin.
The true cause of Warmbier's tragic death may never be known, but the brutality of the regime responsible for his death remains grimly clear.
OTTO WARMBIER - MOST LIKELY MURDERED BY N. KOREAN GOV'T:
BUT WHY WAS HE OVER THERE ANYWAY?
N. KOREA CLAIMS OTTO WAS SPYING.
WILL THERE BE US RETALIATION?
Sources: Fox News, Youtube
**** Otto Warmbier dead: Trump condemns 'brutal' North Korea regime
President Trump slammed North Korea's "brutal regime" Monday after the death of college student Otto Warmbier, who was released by the communist nation in a coma last week.
"Lot of bad things happened," Trump said during a White House meeting with technology CEOs, “but at least we got him home to be with his parents."
"It's a brutal regime," Trump went on, "and we'll be able to handle it."
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States held North Korea accountable for Warmbier's "unjust imprisonment" and demanded that the country release three other Americans it is holding prisoner for alleged crimes against the state. The U.S. government has previously accused North Korea of using such detainees as political pawns.
Warmbier was held by North Korea for more than 17 months before he was medically evacuated June 13. He died Monday at University of Cincinnati Medical Center, near where he grew up in suburban Wyoming.
Warmbier’s family said in a statement that "the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans" meant that "no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today."
In a written statement, Trump said that "Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency."
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who has led the charge for tougher sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear missile program, said "Countless innocent men and women have died at the hand of the North Korean criminals, but the singular case of Otto Warmbier touches the American heart like no other.
"While Otto Warmbier's memory will always be a blessing to his loved ones," Haley added, "it will also serve as an indelible reminder to us of the barbaric nature of the North Korean dictatorship."
Warmbier had traveled to North Korea as part of a tour group when he was detained at Pyongyang's airport in January 2016. The company that organized the trip, Young Pioneer Tours, announced after Warmbier's death that it would no longer organize tours of North Korea for U.S. citizens.
"The assessment of risk for Americans visiting North Korea has become too high," said the company, which has also offered tours to Iran, Iraq and former Soviet republicans and boasted of booking "budget tours to destinations your mother would rather you stayed away from."
The State Department warns against travel to North Korea, but does not explicitly forbid it. While nearly all Americans who have been there have left without incident, visitors can be suddenly seized and face lengthy incarceration for what might seem like minor infractions.
On Capitol Hill, Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, called for the U.S. to ban all tourist travel to North Korea.
"Travel propaganda lures far too many people to North Korea," Royce said. "This is a regime that regularly kidnaps foreign citizens and keeps 120,000 North Koreans in barbaric gulags."
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Warmbier was "murdered by the [North Korean dictator] Kim Jong-un[sic] regime."
"In the final year of his life, he lived the nightmare in which the North Korean people have been trapped for 70 years: forced labor, mass starvation, systematic cruelty, torture, and murder," McCain said, later adding, "The United States of America cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers."
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said North Korea should be "universally condemned for its abhorrent behavior.” He added that Warmbier’s family "had to endure more than any family should have to bear."
Ohio’s other senator, Democrat Sherrod Brown, said the country's "despicable actions ... must be condemned."
“Our hearts are broken for Otto’s family and everyone who knew and loved him,” Brown added.
The state's governor, John Kasich, described Warmbier as "a young man of exceptional spirit."
"This horrendous situation further underscores the evil, oppressive nature of the North Korean regime that has such disregard for human life," Kasich says.
STEVE SCALISE NEEDS MUCH PRAYER (DEMOCRATS INCITED HATE):
LOVE HEALS; HATE KILLS.
PRAY FOR UNITY; CEASE VIOLENT ACTS OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE.
PRAY FOR THIS NATION & PRES TRUMP
PRAY FOR THE ENTIRE US MILITARY
Sources: Fox News, USA Today, Youtube
**** Scalise critical, shooter ID'd as James Hodgkinson
A gunman believed to be a supporter of former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders sprayed a hail of bullets at a GOP baseball practice Wednesday morning, critically wounding House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and injuring four others before U.S. Capitol Police took down the rifle-wielding assailant.
Scalise was in critical condition Wednesday afternoon, MedStar Washington Hospital tweeted. He had surgery after being shot in the hip and was initially said to be stable.
The shooter, who had a violent history including arrests for battery, resisting arrest and drunken driving, was identified as 66-year-old James T. Hodgkinson, of Illinois, Fox News confirmed. President Trump said Hodgkinson died from injuries sustained when he was shot by police.
"I have just been informed that the alleged shooter at the Republican baseball practice is someone who apparently volunteered on my presidential campaign," Sanders said in a statement. "I am sickened by this despicable act. Let me be as clear as I can be. Violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society and I condemn this action in the strongest possible terms."
President Trump addressed the nation before noon and revealed Hodgkinson died in police custody.
Evening will require bourbon and soul-searching for Republicans
~ Georgia
76 delegates
(Polls closed at 7 p.m. EST)
With 2 percent reporting:
Trump: 49 percent
Cruz: 20 percent
Rubio: 20 percent
Carson: 5 percent
Kasich: 4 percent
~ Virginia
49 delegates
(Polls closed at 7 p.m. EST)
With 19 percent reporting:
Trump: 40 percent
Rubio: 31 percent
Cruz: 15 percent
Kasich: 8 percent
Carson: 6 percent
~ Vermont
16 delegates
(Polls closed at 7 p.m. EST)
With 1 percent reporting:
Trump: 37 percent
Kasich: 27 percent
Rubio: 19 percent
Cruz: 8 percent
Carson: 6 percent
~ Alabama
50 delegates
(Polls closed at 8 p.m. EST)
With 0 percent reporting:
Trump: 0 percent
Rubio: 0 percent
Cruz: 0 percent
Kasich: 0 percent
Carson: 0 percent
~ ~Massachusetts
42 delegates
(Polls closed at 8 p.m. EST)
With 0 percent reporting:
Trump: 0 percent
Rubio: 0 percent
Cruz: 0 percent
Kasich: 0 percent
Carson: 0 percent
~ Oklahoma
43 delegates
(Polls closed at 8 p.m. EST)
With 0 percent reporting:
Trump: 0 percent
Rubio: 0 percent
Cruz: 0 percent
Kasich: 0 percent
Carson: 0 percent
~ Tennessee
58 delegates
(Polls closed at 8 p.m. EST)
With 0 percent reporting:
Trump: 0 percent
Rubio: 0 percent
Cruz: 0 percent
Kasich: 0 percent
Carson: 0 percent
~ Texas
155 delegates
(Most polls close at 8 p.m. EST, and some in western region at 9 p.m. EST)
With 0 percent reporting:
Trump: 0 percent
Rubio: 0 percent
Cruz: 0 percent
Kasich: 0 percent
Carson: 0 percent
~ Arkansas
40 delegates
(Polls close at 8:30 p.m. EST)
With 0 percent reporting:
Trump: 0 percent
Rubio: 0 percent
Cruz: 0 percent
Kasich: 0 percent
Carson: 0 percent
~ Minnesota
38 delegates
(Caucuses convene at 8 p.m. EST)
With 0 percent reporting:
Trump: 0 percent
Rubio: 0 percent
Cruz: 0 percent
Kasich: 0 percent
Carson: 0 percent
~ Alaska
28 delegates
(Caucuses close around 12 a.m. EST)
With 0 percent reporting:
Trump: 0 percent
Rubio: 0 percent
Cruz: 0 percent
Kasich: 0 percent
Carson: 0 percent
Call it panic day for the Republican establishment: GOP front-runner Donald Trump is tightening his grip on the party’s nomination on Super Tuesday, the most important day yet in the 2016 election.
Republicans are facing off on Super Tuesday, a group of 11 primaries and caucuses in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia.
And it’s possible Trump could win as many as 10 Super Tuesday contests.
He already has one under his belt, as Fox News has called Georgia’s GOP race for Trump.
Predictions from the search engine Bing have Trump sweeping all Super Tuesday states except one. Republican candidate Ted Cruz is expected to take his home state of Texas.
“Tuesday night feels like an evening that will require bourbon and soul-searching for Republicans,” a GOP insider told Politico.
“Game. Set. Match. On both sides,” added a Virginia Republican. “Sure, there will be some surprises and zero candidates will drop out as most have the wherewithal and ego to slog ahead for weeks to come, but this thing is done. Despite conspiracy theories, Trump and Clinton will be cruising to their respective nominations.”
Even Trump’s GOP rivals are expecting a big night for the billionaire.
“Nobody’s going to win but Trump,” Republican candidate John Kasich told CNN on Thursday.
“Right now, Donald Trump has enormous momentum,” Cruz said Friday. “If he continues with that momentum and powers through and wins everywhere on Super Tuesday, he could easily be unstoppable.”
Trump is dominating the races, according to a CNN poll that has him scoring 49 percent of the primary vote.
“On Tuesday, you have a big day,” Trump said at a Tennessee rally on Saturday, urging his supporters to vote even if they are dying or their spouses suddenly decided to dump them.
“You get up, you go to the polls, and you vote!” he said. “I promise you, that you are going to look back on this night and you are going to say this was a very important night … a very important evening in your life.”
Also, Trump has a lock on Georgia and Tennessee, while Cruz is leading in Texas – Super Tuesday’s “crown jewel” with 155 delegates – according to a trio of new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls.
The polls’ Georgia results are as follows: Trump, 30; Cruz, 23; Marco Rubio, 23; Ben Carson, 9; John Kasich, 9.
And in Texas: Cruz, 39; Trump, 26; Rubio, 16; Carson, 8; Kasich, 6.
While Cruz has a solid lead in Texas, his make-or-break moment comes Tuesday.
“If Cruz doesn’t win Texas, it’s game over for him,” Phillip Stutts, a Republican political consultant, told CNN. “Rubio doesn’t doesn’t have to win, but Cruz has to.”
Rubio won’t face his must-win home state primary in Florida until March 15. After that date, states will begin assigning delegates on a winner-take-all basis.
If Trump manages to build a strong delegate lead before March 15, first-place finishes in winner-take-all primaries such as Florida and Ohio could give him the Republican nomination.
For Republicans, 595 delegates are at stake in 11 states. To win the party nomination, GOP candidates need 1,237 delegates.
Super Tuesday results will be recorded below as they come in.
Welcome to the BLACK POLITICAL BUZZ Blog. (Established 2008)
My name is Laurel. (Author & Publisher)
I Blog with a focus on POLITICS, Business, and occasionally Entertainment.
FACTS ABOUT LAUREL:
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Sister,
Woman of GOD,
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Creative,
Blood-related to a nationally known Charlotte Politician.
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Married,
Love to Travel,
Credentialed by the RNC and DNC.
Political Blogger/ Commentator
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PROFESSIONAL STATUS:
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Original Native of BROOKLYN, NY
Currently reside in CHARLOTTE, NC
I’m Nice but don’t get it twisted because my Mind is Sharp!
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Please don’t ask me to Compensate you for Expressing individual commentary/ Posted Articles, which are protected by the First Amendment, citing Freedom of Speech & Freedom of Expression.
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