Puerto Rico Recovery Effort

[BOGC]

Jan 1, 2018 1:57:13 GMT -5 gordy said:

At this moment on the west coast at 10:50 PM many in the East have already celebrated New Years......except Puerto Rico which has been left in the dark.
Devastation in Texas, Florida and now California have received all the concerns of continental US but P.R. continues to be left in the dark......week in and week out......month in and month out.

Perhaps it is time that P.R. considered jettisoning the US and look elsewhere for help...... China, Mexico or perhaps Canada.

Truly this is a Trump Dump.

No, it's the result of decades of neglect, and considerable local corruption as well.  Their electrical grid was a disaster before Maria, with something like four times as much outage as the average elsewhere in the US.  It was bankrupt, and deferring preventive maintenance (like tree-trimming, or replacing equipment near failure) that had it been done, with have considerably reduced the impact of Maria.

Before Maria, there was little that a new administration would have done.  After, FEMA, the Army Corps of Engineers, a hospital ship, a bunch of reservists, and just about any department that could do anything useful was there.  But they can't work magic.  There aren't enough people there qualified to fix the grid.  The local electrical monopoly issued a no-bid contract to a company that may not be qualified to do the work (something that instigated a federal investigation); they've now been forced by the PR government to cancel the contract.

Plenty is still being done: www.washingtonexaminer.com/utility-workers-feds-ready-major-new-push-to-fix-puerto-ricos-grid/article/2644466

[Deleted]

Jan 1, 2018 13:57:54 GMT -5 BOGC said:

Jan 1, 2018 1:57:13 GMT -5 gordy said:

At this moment on the west coast at 10:50 PM many in the East have already celebrated New Years......except Puerto Rico which has been left in the dark.
Devastation in Texas, Florida and now California have received all the concerns of continental US but P.R. continues to be left in the dark......week in and week out......month in and month out.

Perhaps it is time that P.R. considered jettisoning the US and look elsewhere for help...... China, Mexico or perhaps Canada.

Truly this is a Trump Dump.

No, it's the result of decades of neglect, and considerable local corruption as well.  Their electrical grid was a disaster before Maria, with something like four times as much outage as the average elsewhere in the US.  It was bankrupt, and deferring preventive maintenance (like tree-trimming, or replacing equipment near failure) that had it been done, with have considerably reduced the impact of Maria.

Before Maria, there was little that a new administration would have done.  After, FEMA, the Army Corps of Engineers, a hospital ship, a bunch of reservists, and just about any department that could do anything useful was there.  But they can't work magic.  There aren't enough people there qualified to fix the grid.  The local electrical monopoly issued a no-bid contract to a company that may not be qualified to do the work (something that instigated a federal investigation); they've now been forced by the PR government to cancel the contract.

Plenty is still being done: www.washingtonexaminer.com/utility-workers-feds-ready-major-new-push-to-fix-puerto-ricos-grid/article/2644466

And this "decades of neglect and local corruption" was of course the fault of the poor Puerto Rican people and they should suffer as a result?
No amount of passing this inhumane act off to anything other than a Lebensraum ideology, will justify the pure and unadulterated hatred by the current president for any culture that speaks Spanish.
And, why should those that stand idly by and watch this persecution of American citizens not be held accountable for the result of such inaction?
What the Puerto Rican's have gone through and are still going through, is the direct result of the racist white supremacist sitting in the Oval Office.

[BOGC]

Jan 1, 2018 14:59:29 GMT -5 @willyiam said:

Jan 1, 2018 13:57:54 GMT -5 BOGC said:

No, it's the result of decades of neglect, and considerable local corruption as well.  Their electrical grid was a disaster before Maria, with something like four times as much outage as the average elsewhere in the US.  It was bankrupt, and deferring preventive maintenance (like tree-trimming, or replacing equipment near failure) that had it been done, with have considerably reduced the impact of Maria.

Before Maria, there was little that a new administration would have done.  After, FEMA, the Army Corps of Engineers, a hospital ship, a bunch of reservists, and just about any department that could do anything useful was there.  But they can't work magic.  There aren't enough people there qualified to fix the grid.  The local electrical monopoly issued a no-bid contract to a company that may not be qualified to do the work (something that instigated a federal investigation); they've now been forced by the PR government to cancel the contract.

Plenty is still being done: www.washingtonexaminer.com/utility-workers-feds-ready-major-new-push-to-fix-puerto-ricos-grid/article/2644466

And this "decades of neglect and local corruption" was of course the fault of the poor Puerto Rican people and they should suffer as a result?
No amount of passing this inhumane act off to anything other than a Lebensraum ideology, will justify the pure and unadulterated hatred by the current president for any culture that speaks Spanish.
And, why should those that stand idly by and watch this persecution of American citizens not be held accountable for the result of such inaction?
What the Puerto Rican's have gone through and are still going through, is the direct result of the racist white supremacist sitting in the Oval Office.

In a perfect world, nobody should ever suffer.  But yes, poor people are partly at fault for their own poverty.  It's not as if we should have to send tons of aid on an ongoing basis (i.e. outside of the present emergency) to any state, county, territory, whatever.

PR's own government has run it like a mini banana republic; there is ample history on that point, easily found. Socialism kills people.  That should be obvious.  As for rants about racism, that's BS.  People here really ought to speak English for their own benefit; but the only thing this administration has a problem with (or many people in the country for that matter) is _illegals_, coming here in violation of our laws as if their problems should be made into our problem; when the only people we should let in are those that are in _our_ interests to let in (which may well include plenty from the Far East or India, hardly a move that white supremacists would desire).

But no part of the country should be on the dole indefinitely.  Subsidize something, get more of it; that includes poverty, because if one can be not too uncomfortable while poor, the incentive is weakened to improve oneself and teach one's kids to improve themselves.

The only plan that would work for long-term improvement would be one where everyone made a profit, including both those that were expected to pump money in to make it happen _and_ those that hoped to benefit from the improvements.  Anything else violates basic conservation laws, which hold in human activity as much as in physics.

There may be some of that happening; local, small scale, entrepreneurial solutions.  I've read of some things that sounded like that.

Sometimes it takes a disaster to teach people how much of a total cluster-____ socialism is - at least, the ones that have what it takes to learn.

[gordy]

What a pile of dumb logic BOGC.

Using your point of view we could say that all those people in California that lost their homes, work or business to the fires are partly at fault for their own situation. Had they clear cut the bush and trees away from their homes and had roof mounted sprinkler systems they would have considerably reduced the damage and the risk of damage. Had the government provided greater numbers of water bombers and faster response time then the damage would have been significantly reduced. The government surely knows that the state is prone to horrific fires and the lack of preparation is neglectful on their part. Of course you can also blame it on a large number of Hispanic American citizens that reside in California and probably speak a lot of Spanish.

I think it would be in the best interest of all Trump disciples to demonstrate against providing further aid of any kind to California due to fires as they are an annual occurrence.

We could probably come up with a similar response for all cities along the Gulf coast that get hit by flooding from hurricanes which can occur every year.

I sense that you view citizens of Puerto Rico as being something less than REAL American citizens ..... a hybrid if you will ........ something like what Trump thinks about Hispanic Americans living throughout the US. It is obvious that you really don't think much of the inscription regarding the Statue of Liberty......

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc."

It is for sure that all you Trumpsters don't think those words apply to P.R. I think it would be prudent for the current administration to think about "making America great again" in the eyes of it's own citizens instead of the rest of the world.

[jrchico]

Jan 1, 2018 22:28:53 GMT -5 gordy said:

What a pile of dumb logic BOGC.

Using your point of view we could say that all those people in California that lost their homes, work or business to the fires are partly at fault for their own situation. Had they clear cut the bush and trees away from their homes and had roof mounted sprinkler systems they would have considerably reduced the damage and the risk of damage. Had the government provided greater numbers of water bombers and faster response time then the damage would have been significantly reduced. The government surely knows that the state is prone to horrific fires and the lack of preparation is neglectful on their part. Of course you can also blame it on a large number of Hispanic American citizens that reside in California and probably speak a lot of Spanish.

I think it would be in the best interest of all Trump disciples to demonstrate against providing further aid of any kind to California due to fires as they are an annual occurrence.

We could probably come up with a similar response for all cities along the Gulf coast that get hit by flooding from hurricanes which can occur every year.

I sense that you view citizens of Puerto Rico as being something less than REAL American citizens ..... a hybrid if you will ........ something like what Trump thinks about Hispanic Americans living throughout the US. It is obvious that you really don't think much of the inscription regarding the Statue of Liberty......

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc."

It is for sure that all you Trumpsters don't think those words apply to P.R. I think it would be prudent for the current administration to think about "making America great again" in the eyes of it's own citizens instead of the rest of the world.

As we don't have a dislike button here i am forced to just laugh at your dumb ass. All of your Clinton and Obama lover rhetoric is too flawed to even bother with a reply as you would ignore or not understand it anyway.

[agog]

Jan 1, 2018 22:28:53 GMT -5 gordy said:

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc."

This poem by (((Emma Lazarus))) was added long after the Statue of Liberty was received as a gift from France commemorating our Centennial Year of 1876.

The original intent of the statue was outward looking, letting the world know the blessings freedom bestowed on us, encouraging others to emulate democratic politics and free trade in their own nations. It was not to say "Hey! We got it good over here. C'mon over and freeload."

Our founding fathers understood and said plainly that we are blessed to have a Nation that worships the same God, speaks the same language and conforms to the same laws and customs (specifically English Common Law which still is valid precedent in American Courts to this day and the customs (values) emanating from the Enlightenment.)

Puerto Rico became a U.S. "Possession" as a war prize taken from Spain after the Spanish-American war. We also took "possession" of Guam and The Philippines and I THINK the U.S. Virgin Islands in that same ill conceived deal. Their (Puerto Rico and Guam) population were granted U.S. citizenship. I must wonder what the U.S. decision makers of the time were thinking. No citizenship was offered to the Filipinos who were promised independence. There is no real connection culturally or ethnically for Puerto Ricans to be considered Americans. They are Americans purely de jure not de facto. They really belong in the broad category that includes the Dominican Republic and Cuba and some lesser island nations who derive there culture, language and customs from being descendants of Spanish freemen, African slaves, and whatever indigenous people survived the maltreatment meted out by the Spanish and the Old World diseases introduced by the newcomers which the native peoples had no immunity to.

It's easy to sit back from afar saying "You evil racist White Americans are not doing enough for (insert whichever downtrodden ethnic group pertains to the immediate conversation.)

My, aren't you virtuous.

[BOGC]

Jan 1, 2018 22:28:53 GMT -5 gordy said:

What a pile of dumb logic BOGC.

Using your point of view we could say that all those people in California that lost their homes, work or business to the fires are partly at fault for their own situation. Had they clear cut the bush and trees away from their homes and had roof mounted sprinkler systems they would have considerably reduced the damage and the risk of damage. Had the government provided greater numbers of water bombers and faster response time then the damage would have been significantly reduced. The government surely knows that the state is prone to horrific fires and the lack of preparation is neglectful on their part. Of course you can also blame it on a large number of Hispanic American citizens that reside in California and probably speak a lot of Spanish.

I think it would be in the best interest of all Trump disciples to demonstrate against providing further aid of any kind to California due to fires as they are an annual occurrence.

We could probably come up with a similar response for all cities along the Gulf coast that get hit by flooding from hurricanes which can occur every year.

I sense that you view citizens of Puerto Rico as being something less than REAL American citizens ..... a hybrid if you will ........ something like what Trump thinks about Hispanic Americans living throughout the US. It is obvious that you really don't think much of the inscription regarding the Statue of Liberty......

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc."

It is for sure that all you Trumpsters don't think those words apply to P.R. I think it would be prudent for the current administration to think about "making America great again" in the eyes of it's own citizens instead of the rest of the world.

NO state or locale, quite without regard to their demographics, should receive long-term federal aid.  If some location has a disproportionate, ongoing share of natural disasters, maybe people shouldn't live there (New Orleans should not have been rebuilt; water transport being less significant than when such locations were founded, there is no excuse now for people to live in a place below sea level highly prone to flooding); and if they have a disproportionate, ongoing share of human-caused disasters, maybe they should step up and fix their own behavior.  Most harm to the least fortunate is done by members of their own community, rather than historical and now largely fictional external oppressors.

The Emma Lazarus poem made sense when there was a frontier to conquer.  It makes no sense now.  We should only admit those who will assimilate and become good western capitalists.

We have no lack of Hispanic origin citizens, generally fine people like anyone else; no need to import their relatives (or anyone else's; no chain migration, no lotteries, no permanent refugees, please).  But anyone, whether lily-white or any other variety of person (unless injured in public service), that cannot survive without ongoing subsidy, should be left to the tender mercies of their own efforts, private charity, or the grim reaper.

I have a relative that's been very accident-prone all his life.  Some of it is because he was over-protected to the point of detachment from reality, and some of it is because although bright, he just doesn't pay attention to mundane activities like walking or driving or healthy behavior the way he does to something of greater interest or significance in his mind, or to keeping himself fit to deal effectively with the unexpected.  I don't wish him ill, but except in very narrowly defined ways, it's rather obvious that he is not an asset to those around him. By default, he becomes something of a burden to those who know him; and were it not for them, he'd be a burden on society, or dead.

In the long run, trying to guarantee outcomes for chronic victims is _less_ humanitarian*, because it's unsustainable. But then, those of the left are either (to be very kind) incredibly and persistently naive, or wish to bring on collapse so they can pursue unlimited power.

Considering the shape they were in before Maria, PR is coming along as a reasonable person might expect, and continuing to make progress; throwing vast sums at it faster would result in most being wasted.  The implication that simply because they're not a state, all problems are federal problems, is false; there is a local government, although it has been a miserable failure, if not entirely without the "aid" of well-meant federal programs decades ago with unintended consequences.  www.politico.com/story/2017/12/31/puerto-rico-squatters-hurricane-261495

* I refuse to pretend to more than occasional interest in humanitarian considerations for strangers; it's enough for me to deal with those regarding people I have some acquaintance with.  Other situations and needs are the problem of those to whom those in need are not strangers.  But more than that, I think that government or society-wide "solutions" for everyone's needs and problems are impossible, un-accountable, and un-scaleable failures, because they don't demand active participation by the recipients, and cannot possibly be simultaneously accountable and flexible enough to take into account individual situations.  The individual, not the collective, is the focus of responsibility and activism on behalf of themselves and their dependents.

[BOGC]

Jan 2, 2018 2:36:02 GMT -5 agog said:

Jan 1, 2018 22:28:53 GMT -5 gordy said:

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc."

This poem by (((Emma Lazarus))) was added long after the Statue of Liberty was received as a gift from France commemorating our Centennial Year of 1876.

The original intent of the statue was outward looking, letting the world know the blessings freedom bestowed on us, encouraging others to emulate democratic politics and free trade in their own nations. It was not to say "Hey! We got it good over here. C'mon over and freeload."

Our founding fathers understood and said plainly that we are blessed to have a Nation that worships the same God, speaks the same language and conforms to the same laws and customs (specifically English Common Law which still is valid precedent in American Courts to this day and the customs (values) emanating from the Enlightenment.)

Puerto Rico became a U.S. "Possession" as a war prize taken from Spain after the Spanish-American war. We also took "possession" of Guam and The Philippines and I THINK the U.S. Virgin Islands in that same ill conceived deal. Their (Puerto Rico and Guam) population were granted U.S. citizenship. I must wonder what the U.S. decision makers of the time were thinking. No citizenship was offered to the Filipinos who were promised independence. There is no real connection culturally or ethnically for Puerto Ricans to be considered Americans. They are Americans purely de jure not de facto. They really belong in the broad category that includes the Dominican Republic and Cuba and some lesser island nations who derive there culture, language and customs from being descendants of Spanish freemen, African slaves, and whatever indigenous people survived the maltreatment meted out by the Spanish and the Old World diseases introduced by the newcomers which the native peoples had no immunity to.

It's easy to sit back from afar saying "You evil racist White Americans are not doing enough for (insert whichever downtrodden ethnic group pertains to the immediate conversation.)

My, aren't you virtuous.

Virtue-signalling is the game the left plays.  If someone asks about the big flushing sound of the trillions for the War on Poverty (no more effective than the War on Drugs, as far as that goes), their last defense of it is to make a wide-eyed innocent face and go on about how they meant well.  Meaning well, even for those deserving the benefit of the doubt that they actually do, Does Not Produce Results.

[gordy]

Jan 1, 2018 22:56:40 GMT -5 jrchico said:

Jan 1, 2018 22:28:53 GMT -5 gordy said:

What a pile of dumb logic BOGC.

Using your point of view we could say that all those people in California that lost their homes, work or business to the fires are partly at fault for their own situation. Had they clear cut the bush and trees away from their homes and had roof mounted sprinkler systems they would have considerably reduced the damage and the risk of damage. Had the government provided greater numbers of water bombers and faster response time then the damage would have been significantly reduced. The government surely knows that the state is prone to horrific fires and the lack of preparation is neglectful on their part. Of course you can also blame it on a large number of Hispanic American citizens that reside in California and probably speak a lot of Spanish.

I think it would be in the best interest of all Trump disciples to demonstrate against providing further aid of any kind to California due to fires as they are an annual occurrence.

We could probably come up with a similar response for all cities along the Gulf coast that get hit by flooding from hurricanes which can occur every year.

I sense that you view citizens of Puerto Rico as being something less than REAL American citizens ..... a hybrid if you will ........ something like what Trump thinks about Hispanic Americans living throughout the US. It is obvious that you really don't think much of the inscription regarding the Statue of Liberty......

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc."

It is for sure that all you Trumpsters don't think those words apply to P.R. I think it would be prudent for the current administration to think about "making America great again" in the eyes of it's own citizens instead of the rest of the world.

As we don't have a dislike button here i am forced to just laugh at your dumb ass. All of your Clinton and Obama lover rhetoric is too flawed to even bother with a reply as you would ignore or not understand it anyway.

Your response to my post is bewildering.  It's brevity is difficult to make any sense and I can only conclude that a more lengthy rant would be totally confusing like many of your posts.  I will leave it at that with the exception that your remark about the logic in my previous post being "dumb ass"  is actually fair description and likely you arrived  at it by "dumb luck".

My previous "dumb ass"  logic was actually mimicking BOGC's "dumb logic" (my description) which I felt could be useful to parallel the P.R. situation to that of California and some of the Gulf states.

[gordy]

Jan 2, 2018 11:20:12 GMT -5 BOGC said:

Jan 1, 2018 22:28:53 GMT -5 gordy said:

What a pile of dumb logic BOGC.

 

NO state or locale, quite without regard to their demographics, should receive long-term federal aid.  If some location has a disproportionate, ongoing share of natural disasters, maybe people shouldn't live there (New Orleans should not have been rebuilt; water transport being less significant than when such locations were founded, there is no excuse now for people to live in a place below sea level highly prone to flooding); and if they have a disproportionate, ongoing share of human-caused disasters, maybe they should step up and fix their own behavior.  Most harm to the least fortunate is done by members of their own community, rather than historical and now largely fictional external oppressors.

The Emma Lazarus poem made sense when there was a frontier to conquer.  It makes no sense now.  We should only admit those who will assimilate and become good western capitalists.

We have no lack of Hispanic origin citizens, generally fine people like anyone else; no need to import their relatives (or anyone else's; no chain migration, no lotteries, no permanent refugees, please).  But anyone, whether lily-white or any other variety of person (unless injured in public service), that cannot survive without ongoing subsidy, should be left to the tender mercies of their own efforts, private charity, or the grim reaper.

I have a relative that's been very accident-prone all his life.  Some of it is because he was over-protected to the point of detachment from reality, and some of it is because although bright, he just doesn't pay attention to mundane activities like walking or driving or healthy behavior the way he does to something of greater interest or significance in his mind, or to keeping himself fit to deal effectively with the unexpected.  I don't wish him ill, but except in very narrowly defined ways, it's rather obvious that he is not an asset to those around him. By default, he becomes something of a burden to those who know him; and were it not for them, he'd be a burden on society, or dead.

In the long run, trying to guarantee outcomes for chronic victims is _less_ humanitarian*, because it's unsustainable. But then, those of the left are either (to be very kind) incredibly and persistently naive, or wish to bring on collapse so they can pursue unlimited power.

Considering the shape they were in before Maria, PR is coming along as a reasonable person might expect, and continuing to make progress; throwing vast sums at it faster would result in most being wasted.  The implication that simply because they're not a state, all problems are federal problems, is false; there is a local government, although it has been a miserable failure, if not entirely without the "aid" of well-meant federal programs decades ago with unintended consequences.  www.politico.com/story/2017/12/31/puerto-rico-squatters-hurricane-261495

* I refuse to pretend to more than occasional interest in humanitarian considerations for strangers; it's enough for me to deal with those regarding people I have some acquaintance with.  Other situations and needs are the problem of those to whom those in need are not strangers.  But more than that, I think that government or society-wide "solutions" for everyone's needs and problems are impossible, un-accountable, and un-scaleable failures, because they don't demand active participation by the recipients, and cannot possibly be simultaneously accountable and flexible enough to take into account individual situations.  The individual, not the collective, is the focus of responsibility and activism on behalf of themselves and their dependents.

Interesting response even if I believe it to be a bit slanted toward your bias.  So if we accepted your preference to cease aiding fellow citizens that experience the affects of a natural disaster what might a new US look like if your government were to adopt such a practise that encourages people to leave areas that experience these phenomena?

a.  Relocate 2/3rds of the entire western seaboard because of fires, earthquakes, drought and the potential for volcanic activity;

b.  Relocate the seaboard of all Gulf states from Texas to Florida because of high winds and excessive rains from recurring hurricanes;

c.  Relocate a good portion of the eastern seaboard for similar reasons of that affecting the Gulf states seaboard;

d.  Perhaps one should consider doing something with the mid west and their recurring tornadoes.

That should pretty well go a long way to making America great again.

With regard to my political preference;  I make no deception about my dislike for Trump ( with plenty of valid reason ).  However I do not care which party succeeds  in having their leader elected President.  My concerns are with the caliber of the incumbents and how they affect the well being of their neighbors.  In my opinion there have been many if not mostly good Presidents in the past.  I believe there is many in both parties that are capable and would do a much better job at administering the US than the current administration.  I did not have any feelings about whether Hilary Clinton would be a good or bad administrator ......that is a decision for the US voter to make.

All said and done, Trump is playing on the world stage and is open to criticism or praise  by all and one does not need to be a US citizen to express their opinion about him. 

[BOGC]

A partial fix would be for federal flood insurance to only pay _once_ on a given piece of property. Paying to repeatedly rebuild the same property in a flood-prone area is nuts. Over time, that would have people move away from those areas.

thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/energy-environment/344607-the-same-houses-flood-every-year-and-we-keep-paying-for

[Deleted]

Here is a recent video from the Today Show (January 21, 2018):

[Beachguy]

Jan 1, 2018 14:59:29 GMT -5 @willyiam said:

Jan 1, 2018 13:57:54 GMT -5 BOGC said:

No, it's the result of decades of neglect, and considerable local corruption as well.  Their electrical grid was a disaster before Maria, with something like four times as much outage as the average elsewhere in the US.  It was bankrupt, and deferring preventive maintenance (like tree-trimming, or replacing equipment near failure) that had it been done, with have considerably reduced the impact of Maria.

Before Maria, there was little that a new administration would have done.  After, FEMA, the Army Corps of Engineers, a hospital ship, a bunch of reservists, and just about any department that could do anything useful was there.  But they can't work magic.  There aren't enough people there qualified to fix the grid.  The local electrical monopoly issued a no-bid contract to a company that may not be qualified to do the work (something that instigated a federal investigation); they've now been forced by the PR government to cancel the contract.

Plenty is still being done: www.washingtonexaminer.com/utility-workers-feds-ready-major-new-push-to-fix-puerto-ricos-grid/article/2644466

And this "decades of neglect and local corruption" was of course the fault of the poor Puerto Rican people and they should suffer as a result?
No amount of passing this inhumane act off to anything other than a Lebensraum ideology, will justify the pure and unadulterated hatred by the current president for any culture that speaks Spanish.
And, why should those that stand idly by and watch this persecution of American citizens not be held accountable for the result of such inaction?
What the Puerto Rican's have gone through and are still going through, is the direct result of the racist white supremacist sitting in the Oval Office.


trash talk by a old thinking mind , take your butt and money over there to help .here we will make America great again , people should not have children they can't feed and care for , 

[Beachguy]

Jan 2, 2018 22:15:11 GMT -5 gordy said:

Jan 2, 2018 11:20:12 GMT -5 BOGC said:

NO state or locale, quite without regard to their demographics, should receive long-term federal aid.  If some location has a disproportionate, ongoing share of natural disasters, maybe people shouldn't live there (New Orleans should not have been rebuilt; water transport being less significant than when such locations were founded, there is no excuse now for people to live in a place below sea level highly prone to flooding); and if they have a disproportionate, ongoing share of human-caused disasters, maybe they should step up and fix their own behavior.  Most harm to the least fortunate is done by members of their own community, rather than historical and now largely fictional external oppressors.

The Emma Lazarus poem made sense when there was a frontier to conquer.  It makes no sense now.  We should only admit those who will assimilate and become good western capitalists.

We have no lack of Hispanic origin citizens, generally fine people like anyone else; no need to import their relatives (or anyone else's; no chain migration, no lotteries, no permanent refugees, please).  But anyone, whether lily-white or any other variety of person (unless injured in public service), that cannot survive without ongoing subsidy, should be left to the tender mercies of their own efforts, private charity, or the grim reaper.

I have a relative that's been very accident-prone all his life.  Some of it is because he was over-protected to the point of detachment from reality, and some of it is because although bright, he just doesn't pay attention to mundane activities like walking or driving or healthy behavior the way he does to something of greater interest or significance in his mind, or to keeping himself fit to deal effectively with the unexpected.  I don't wish him ill, but except in very narrowly defined ways, it's rather obvious that he is not an asset to those around him. By default, he becomes something of a burden to those who know him; and were it not for them, he'd be a burden on society, or dead.

In the long run, trying to guarantee outcomes for chronic victims is _less_ humanitarian*, because it's unsustainable. But then, those of the left are either (to be very kind) incredibly and persistently naive, or wish to bring on collapse so they can pursue unlimited power.

Considering the shape they were in before Maria, PR is coming along as a reasonable person might expect, and continuing to make progress; throwing vast sums at it faster would result in most being wasted.  The implication that simply because they're not a state, all problems are federal problems, is false; there is a local government, although it has been a miserable failure, if not entirely without the "aid" of well-meant federal programs decades ago with unintended consequences.  www.politico.com/story/2017/12/31/puerto-rico-squatters-hurricane-261495

* I refuse to pretend to more than occasional interest in humanitarian considerations for strangers; it's enough for me to deal with those regarding people I have some acquaintance with.  Other situations and needs are the problem of those to whom those in need are not strangers.  But more than that, I think that government or society-wide "solutions" for everyone's needs and problems are impossible, un-accountable, and un-scaleable failures, because they don't demand active participation by the recipients, and cannot possibly be simultaneously accountable and flexible enough to take into account individual situations.  The individual, not the collective, is the focus of responsibility and activism on behalf of themselves and their dependents.

Interesting response even if I believe it to be a bit slanted toward your bias.  So if we accepted your preference to cease aiding fellow citizens that experience the affects of a natural disaster what might a new US look like if your government were to adopt such a practise that encourages people to leave areas that experience these phenomena?

a.  Relocate 2/3rds of the entire western seaboard because of fires, earthquakes, drought and the potential for volcanic activity;

b.  Relocate the seaboard of all Gulf states from Texas to Florida because of high winds and excessive rains from recurring hurricanes;

c.  Relocate a good portion of the eastern seaboard for similar reasons of that affecting the Gulf states seaboard;

d.  Perhaps one should consider doing something with the mid west and their recurring tornadoes.

That should pretty well go a long way to making America great again.

With regard to my political preference;  I make no deception about my dislike for Trump ( with plenty of valid reason ).  However I do not care which party succeeds  in having their leader elected President.  My concerns are with the caliber of the incumbents and how they affect the well being of their neighbors.  In my opinion there have been many if not mostly good Presidents in the past.  I believe there is many in both parties that are capable and would do a much better job at administering the US than the current administration.  I did not have any feelings about whether Hilary Clinton would be a good or bad administrator ......that is a decision for the US voter to make.

All said and done, Trump is playing on the world stage and is open to criticism or praise  by all and one does not need to be a US citizen to express their opinion about him. 

bah bah bah again as always , non citizens thoughts mean nothing , we voted !! period !! MAGA in 2020 will be the vote by smart people , 

[Beachguy]

Jan 1, 2018 22:56:40 GMT -5 jrchico said:

Jan 1, 2018 22:28:53 GMT -5 gordy said:

What a pile of dumb logic BOGC.

Using your point of view we could say that all those people in California that lost their homes, work or business to the fires are partly at fault for their own situation. Had they clear cut the bush and trees away from their homes and had roof mounted sprinkler systems they would have considerably reduced the damage and the risk of damage. Had the government provided greater numbers of water bombers and faster response time then the damage would have been significantly reduced. The government surely knows that the state is prone to horrific fires and the lack of preparation is neglectful on their part. Of course you can also blame it on a large number of Hispanic American citizens that reside in California and probably speak a lot of Spanish.

I think it would be in the best interest of all Trump disciples to demonstrate against providing further aid of any kind to California due to fires as they are an annual occurrence.

We could probably come up with a similar response for all cities along the Gulf coast that get hit by flooding from hurricanes which can occur every year.

I sense that you view citizens of Puerto Rico as being something less than REAL American citizens ..... a hybrid if you will ........ something like what Trump thinks about Hispanic Americans living throughout the US. It is obvious that you really don't think much of the inscription regarding the Statue of Liberty......

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc."

It is for sure that all you Trumpsters don't think those words apply to P.R. I think it would be prudent for the current administration to think about "making America great again" in the eyes of it's own citizens instead of the rest of the world.

As we don't have a dislike button here i am forced to just laugh at your dumb ass. All of your Clinton and Obama lover rhetoric is too flawed to even bother with a reply as you would ignore or not understand it anyway.

tell him/her jr , there are dumb asses here with all talk not of their messed up country , this is 2018 , all need to be checked before coming here , let this person take the poor , tired , homeless in their country , the fake do-good fake mouths