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#1224329 2017-10-02 12:11 AM
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brother from another mother
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brother from another mother
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/o...nse-double-down

 Quote:

Puerto Rico: Trump spat with San Juan mayor escalates as all sides double down
Trump defended the US response as Puerto Ricans queue for basic supplies and 95% remain without power – but Carmen Yulín Cruz fired back just as strong

The war of words between the president of the United States, population 324 million, and the mayor of Puerto Rico’s capital San Juan, population 400,000, intensified on Sunday as the island continued to struggle in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

As Puerto Ricans stood in line for water, food and petrol, and with 95% of the island still without power, Donald Trump doubled down on his cantankerous spat with San Juan mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz. In a Sunday morning tweet he alluded to her in all but name, referring to “politically motivated ingrates”.

Cruz proved herself to be as adept as the occupant of the White House in using the media to stand her ground. In interviews with the Sunday politics shows, she too doubled down on her criticisms of Trump and his administration and the neglect, as she sees it, that they have shown her community.

Asked on Meet the Press on NBC whether she felt personally attacked by Trump, Cruz said: “I don’t care. He can attack me all he wants, you know, bring it on, I’m here, if it saves lives. If it gets the message in the right place, frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

Trump and senior administration figures are set to visit Puerto Rico on Tuesday, at which point they will come face to face with the ongoing hardship on an island that is home to 3.5 million American citizens. There have been some signs of tentative progress made.

As of Sunday morning, nearly 65% of gas stations, 11% of cell phone towers and 49% of supermarkets were open, according to the Puerto Rican government. But on Saturday the governor’s office said 53% of the country still did not have water service, and although large quantities of supplies have started to arrive at the ports the distribution of the goods to outlying regions continues to prove difficult as a result of damage to roads and bridges.

“Today will be a little bit better than yesterday,” Federal Emergency Management Administration (Fema) acting administrator for region II, John Rabin, told reporters on Saturday. “Tomorrow will hopefully be a bit better than today was.”

To add to the challenges, a flash flood warning was in effect for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, also hammered by recent hurricanes, through the weekend.

He can attack me all he wants … if it gets the message in the right place, frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn

The Trump administration has clearly been rattled by the searing criticism from the San Juan mayor, and by a growing theme on social media and cable news comparing the apparently sluggish response to the Puerto Rican disaster to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005.

Chief economics adviser Gary Cohn interrupted an interview on the new tax plan with Fox News Sunday to make a statement on Puerto Rico. He insisted the US had gone through “extraordinary efforts to deliver goods to the island”.

“We are working full steam ahead,” he said.

Mick Mulvaney, director of the federal Office of Management and Budget, told CNN’s State of the Union “it’s unfair to say we haven’t done everything we can, because we have.

“It’s unfortunate that the San Juan mayor wants to go against the grain – we’d love to have her on the team.”

Mulvaney added: “Judge us by the actions please. Judge us by what’s happening on the island, judge us by the men and the women who have worked tirelessly.”


I wonder if this is politicly motivated. It's sad that people are caught in the middle of this.


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Fair Play!
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Trump's response certainly was.


Fair play!
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Officially "too old for this shit"
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brutally Kamphausened
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The current governor of Puerto Rico has nothing but praise for Trump's actions to bring aid to the island.

Political corruption and negligence for decades of Puerto Rico's electrical grid and other infrastructure is what led to the complete collapse of Puerto Rico's electrical and water systems. And similar to New Orleans mayor after hurricane Katrina, he tried to cover up his own incompetence and negligence by blaming FEMA and President W. Bush. When FEMA and other federal aid workers come in, they need some kind of infrastructure to take over when they come in to help. Since there was an abandonment of responsibility in New Orleans, there was nothing left to take over.

Similarly in Puerto Rico, there were supplies set up to bring in to Puerto Rico as soon as hurricane Maria ended. But the supplies just sat there on the docks, because local officials didn't provide the trucks to transport and distribute them throughout the island. The San Juan mayor covered her ass by blaming Trump.


Here in Florida, I was without power and enduring the heat for 4 days. So I have some idea what Puerto Ricans are enduring. They've been without power for almost exactly a month now, with no end in sight. They have to completely rebuild Puerto Rico's electrical grid, and possibly the water system as well. Currently almost 80% of the island still has no electricity.

Three weeks ago, a Puerto Rican co-worker of mine suddenly exploded into tears on the job. Her entire family is in Puerto Rico, and she finally snapped under the pressure of not knowing what happened to her family, having no way to contact them to know if her family is all right. Even air flights to Puerto Rico were suspended.

The girl who cuts my hair is from Puerto Rico, and there is a huge exodus out of Puerto Rico to the U.S., particularly young people, that may or may not return to the island after power is restored. I suspect when they have jobs and new lives in the U.S., it will be difficult to leave that and go back. She also said that while there are generators powering gas stations and supermarkets, only the wealthy there have air conditioning, and average people have no relief from the heat. Crime has also skyrocketed, since many cannot work and are desperate for the basics of sustenance. I know where I am, even after power was restored and I was technically "back to normal" at work, for about 3 weeks we had a fraction of our normal business. How much worse, when power is not restored?

And even worse in places like the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, and the Florida keys, where up to 90% of the buildings are damaged or destroyed. Many of these places will take 7 or 10 years to get back to something resembling normal again. Hurricanes Irma and Maria, which only existed for a span of 12 days or so, will leave an impact for years on millions of lives. Even where I live, where (thank God) the damage was fairly minor, there are still huge piles of debris waiting to be taken away by sanitation. There's just too much for sanitation to do in any short amount of time. After hurricane Wilma (Oct 2005) the debris sat piled up for 6 months. I fully expect a similar timeframe this time. It's hard to imagine the lasting effects unless you see it every day. I'd suspect there will be a lot of beachfront property for sale in the near future!


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brutally Kamphausened
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An incredible 4 months later, and 400,000 people in Puerto Rico still don't have power.

For all the media "racist" claims that Trump doesn't care about Puerto Rico, this (on Fox News) is the first I've seen the media report on the Puerto Rico situation they're still dealing with every day.

On local news, Florida governor Rick Scott said that over 300,000 Puerto Ricans have immigrated to Florida.


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brutally Kamphausened
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A few nights ago, Fox News had a report about the situation in Puerto Rico. Incredibly, there are STILL about 100,000 people there without power. Even after power is restored, it is reported that many are planning to leave Puerto Rico, and relocate to the mainland U.S.

I can't say I blame them. It's absurd that over 6 months later, there are still people without power. My above mentioned hairstylist from Puerto Rico said that the wealthy areas were quickly restored, and there is a huge contrast between them and all other residents in Puerto Rico. It manifests a low priority that power is not restored yet.


Although I would also point out that there was so much debris from the storm here in Florida, that my condo association would put out only a portion of it to be taken away in increments, and it was only sometime in January that they finally ran out of debris to pile out by the development entrance for Sanitation to take away. But there's a big difference between extra debris and not having power. No electricity means you can't cook, do laundry, or in many cases even have clean water to shower and drink. I experienced some of that over 4 long days. It was even difficult to sleep at night in the heat and humidity. Four days felt like 2 weeks. How much more so in Puerto Rico?


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