Convention Center refugees not allowed to leave?

Fox News ^ | Worst-Case Scenario

[worst-case scenario]

Did you actually look at the footage? The whole point of people walking over the I-10 is that it was elevated above the water and sewage and all. It's the only safe path into or out of the area. They wouldn't have been "wandering through waist deep sewage and armed gangs" - as a matter of fact, hundreds and hundreds of people were calmly sitting on the bridge, waiting for the buses, since that is the only route the buses could take.

Heavens, even if there are 100 out of every 1000 of those residents that are part of an "armed gang", what about the other 900 innocent people, who are following directions, doing what they're told, abandoned and unable to escape the situation? Actually prevented at gunpoint from escaping that hellhole?

Don't be so kneejerk.

[sportutegrl]

I just saw on CNN a film of a guy threaten to start eating dead people. They have been 5 days without food. Not all are criminals and thugs. They are poor people and babies and children and tourists and old and elderly and sick. They can't wait in the line for 3 hours for MREs. They are dying. They are not being allowed to simply walk away from hellish conditions. Who is doing this? And why?

[chris1]

I assume you would be too if you were in the same conditions? I am utterly disgusted with many on FR who sit in the comfort of their air conditioning withplenty of food, water, comfort judging some of these people, not including the looters and rapists obviously.

[DugwayDuke]

And, exactly where were these people going to walk too?

This is standard procedure for dealing with situations like this. It is necessary to control the movement of people. Otherwise you'll never get control of the situation. You need to concentrate the people needing help in positions so that the authorities know where to send the help. If these persons had been allowed to 'walk out' on their own, the only result would have been that they would have been spread out over a larger area and you'd have to spend valuable time and resources looking for them, you'd have to concentrate them again, and then get them completely out of the area.

Note to everyone. Never go to a shelter unless there is absolutely no other choice. You give up all your freedom of action.

[poobear]

Agreed! The heat finally took its toll I guess. Had to turn it off at that point. They weren't looking to well either.

[Columbine]

What Shepherd Smith said, in between outbursts of drama, was that there had been 5,000 on the ramp the day before and last night there were 500.

Not that is a dramatic decrease in one day.

And NO, I am not confusing the reports. I saw the entire shameful spectacle that Fox News staged last night. It was disgusting!

[chris1]

It does not suit some Freepers to acknowledge that. Of course there are some looters, but these are mostly law abiding AMERICAN CITIZENS we are talking about.

[Columbine]

Who is doing this? And why?

A hurricane and a flood did it. Get a grip!

[xsmommy]

listen, my gripe is with the personal grandstanding of Shep and Geraldo that was evident last night. no one is saying that the plight of those people is not tragic, but those two were beyond the pale, and it has everything to do with their personalities and personal bent and not the tragic circumstances.

[sheik yerbouty]

Smith was out there for 5 days. He was having a meltdowm..

[worst-case scenario]

Yeah, Shep was on top of the I-10 bridge at exit 235. It's right above the Convention Center, which is where Geraldo was located.

Folks from the Convention Center tried to walk out the Interstate and cross the bridge but were turned back at armed checkpoints. They were all told to return to the Center and wait for the buses that were coming, along with the other relief.

Some went back to the Center, some just stayed sitting on the bridge.

[chris1]

You are telling us never to do what these people are being forced to do yet don't want them to walk to safety?????

[cripplecreek]

LOL FEMA death camp conspiracy theories.

[Prospero]

Did Geraldo have any problems getting out? The guy's there since Wednesday, and didn't seem to be having any problems coming and going, spending most of his time yesterday flying around with the levee sandbag crews. A lot of these reporters, with some notable exceptions, have essentially become victims themselves, with all the post-trauma hysteria. And one point on a 90,000 square mile map with a camera provides only the illusion of "the big picture." There is plenty of stupidity to go around. We are also watching the tail end of a collapse of local and state government that should have been prepared to be the first responders, not the federals. This crowd at the Convention Center included parolees and and prisoners, all mixed in with law abiding people. And horrendous crimes have taken place there while the lights were out. As tragic as it was, and as ham-handed as some of the shepherds of these victims has been, it will take a lot of time for the inside story to Half the cops of NOLA are AWOL, by the way, or they were. And we are dealing with the default attitude that "the Federal Government" stopped people from leaving, as if such a decision came directly from the Oval Office.

Geraldo weeping with what appears to be a more sober minded infant, last night on fox, plead for someone to "let these people go."

As instantaneous as television is, the feds are like the USS Truman, big and bad, but slow to stop and change course. The First Responders are local and state, and if this vast storm overwhelmed them, then it follows that it staggered the feds as well.

In the end, it will be demonstrated that the federal response was the fastest deployment of the largest coordination of human and material resources in history. 100 hours until the arrival of a convoy? Take another look at South Dade after Andrew in 1992. And Floyd in eastern NC in 1999, where the "poor and black" were lucky to get out alive of smaller flooded cities spread over a 50,000 square mile area after ten days.

The camera is a key hole upon an unprecedented concentration of flood victims, but not unprecedented in numbers.

[Columbine]

Yes, I would cut Smith some slack. He had really tried to help people and he didn't go as far as Geraldo last night.

Geraldo is nothing more than a media whore and never will be.

It was interesting that H&C only went to them one time. I'll bet the email was flooding Fox News servers by then.

[cripplecreek]

I think we'll hear stories of some real heroics in comming weeks and months.

[chris1]

You are the sick one. It was plainly clear last night why these people are holed up there and not just lazy bums to dumb to walk the bridge.

I sure hope one day you or your family are not put into a situation like this and kept like a rat in a cage with no food and water or way out.

[xsmommy]

did you happen to see, i think it was on Greta's coverage, the woman that had arrived at the Astrodome who said she had just gotten there and wanted her family to know it, and i swear she took her glasses off and said something about wanting to tell George W. Bush that she was NEVER EVER going to vote for him, to "look at this face good". did anyone else see that? and did i misunderstand what she said? my daughter and i both looked at each other like, WHAT WAS THAT, and why would fox show that, it was a clip, not a live shot last night.

[Columbine]

Yes, I saw that woman. It was an insane thing to show.

Contrary to popular opinion Fox News has quite a few moonbat libs on their staff and they take their shots at the administration whenever possible.

[dalebert]

Could it be conditions were unsafe?