Puerto Rico

[57Brave]

perhaps another President would have reacted differently.
Just sayin'

3.5 Million Americans left to fend for themselves

[jpx7]

JH: Puerto Rico is an island that suffers from its position in the middle of the Caribbean and its physical separation from the U.S. Its roads were in disrepair and its electrical grid was antiquated prior to the hurricane. The island has also suffered for years from ineffective local government and rising local territorial debt.

This is crux: the violence in Puerto Rico was not wrought in a spectacular moment of maelstrom, nor in an inadequacy of response, but slowly, over decades, due to colonial plundering and the attendant mismanagement.

[57Brave]

They are still American citizens devastated by a natural disaster.

[thethe]

This is crux: the violence in Puerto Rico was not wrought in a spectacular moment of maelstrom, nor in an inadequacy of response, but slowly, over decades, due to colonial plundering and the attendant mismanagement.

Isn't there some blame to place at the feet of Puerto Ricans? There hasn't been the all out embrace of being part of the US.

[57Brave]

perhaps for other issues your point would stand
, but the US has the resources to get this right and for some reason , won't

[thethe]

perhaps for other issues your point would stand
, but the US has the resources to get this right and for some reason , won't

In absolute perfect conditions how long would it take to build a new community the size of PR?

You act like you can snap your fingers and millions of people are going to get perfect utility service. This takes time but since lives are being lost because of the delay I understand the outrage.

[57Brave]

we'll never know because of the half assed effort put forth by the administration.

we are 2 1/2 months post landfall.

[thethe]

we'll never know because of the half assed effort put forth by the administration.

we are 2 1/2 months post landfall.

What is your basis of comparison? What other similar situations have happened in the past? PR was effectively a early 20th century town. It needed an overhaul for decades.

[57Brave]

Has the administration ever addressed the issue of electricity by setting goals and giving progress reports on meeting those goals ?
I live in an area hit at least once a year by either tropical storms or hurricanes, that has been standard procedure before Katrina and post Katrina.

No one knows outside Trump got into a spat with the Mayor of San Juan .

I would love to be corrected on this by learning, with data, that the administration has been on the ball and I just missed the reports

[57Brave]

What is your basis of comparison? What other similar situations have happened in the past? PR was effectively a early 20th century town. It needed an overhaul for decades.

Closest would be Haiti or Katrina to a degree

"overhaul" , as does the mainland

[jpx7]

They are still American citizens devastated by a natural disaster.

I don't disagree at all. I'm just saying there are preceding, systemic, even-more-problematic culpabilities that mitigate the efficacy any response could have had.

Isn't there some blame to place at the feet of Puerto Ricans? There hasn't been the all out embrace of being part of the US.

Hard for me to blame the conquered people for not fully embracing their conqueror ... But yes, certainly some profiteering local oligarchs and administrators have sold out the greater populace for their share of the colonial plunder (as is almost ubiquitously the case with colonized populations/landscapes).

[57Brave]

[57Brave]

Wonder the infrastructure status of other territories/ colonies.
Guessing Guam is fully functional -- what are our legal responsibilities ?
...
edit:

oh

United States Department of the Interior
Main article: United States Department of the Interior

The United States Department of the Interior is charged with managing federal affairs within U.S. territory.[8] The Interior Department has a wide range of responsibilities (which include the regulation of territorial governments and the basic stewardship for public lands, et al.). The United States Department of the Interior is not responsible for local government or for civil administration except in the cases of Indian reservations, through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as well as those territories administered through the Office of Insular Affairs. The exception is the "incorporated and unorganized" (see below) United States Territory of Palmyra Island, the legal remnant of the former United States Territory of Hawaii since 1959,[9] in which the local government and civil administration were assigned by the Secretary of the Interior to the Fish and Wildlife Service in 2001.[10]
.................

So we do not have binding responsibility. Only humanitarian

[57Brave]

The shipment of about 50,000 pounds of food was originally destined for Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands affected by hurricanes, but it had been held in Jacksonville instead. A Florida spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it wasn’t clear why the food was never sent to Puerto Rico.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...226-story.html

[57Brave]

Kyle Griffin‏Verified account @kylegriffin1

Puerto Rico authorities say nearly half of power customers in the territory still lack electricity more than 3 months after Hurricane Maria.


LOLGOP
‏ @LOLGOP
3m3 minutes ago

LOLGOP Retweeted Kyle Griffin

This is going on as the president of the United States spends 1/3 of his time at his businesses collecting bribes.

[Jaw]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/static....rricane-maria/

ON SATURDAY, A day after becoming aware of a massive store of rebuilding materials being held by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, the U.S. federal government — the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, along with their security detail — entered a Palo Seco warehouse owned by the public utility to claim and distribute the equipment, according to a spokesperson for the Corps.

The federal government “began distributing [supplies] to contractors,” Vera said, including hard-to-find full-tension steel sleeves, critical to rebuilding. “We obtained several hundred of these sleeves on Saturday,” Vera added.

The armed encounter comes as around half of Puerto Ricans still remain without electricity well over 100 days after Hurricane Maria. As PREPA hoards crucial resources that could help remedy the island’s dire situation, the Puerto Rican government is attempting to annihilate the power provider’s only regulator.

“Warehouse 5” — the one which USACE and FEMA entered Saturday — “falls under the control of the [PREPA] transmission division and has lacked transparency in inventory and accountability,” the email from Vera continued. Carlos Torres, appointed by Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló to oversee power restoration, was on site as well.
...
“Due to the size of the warehouse,” Vera said, accounting for everything contained therein is still underway days later. Among the materials recovered so far are “2,875 pieces of critical material to contractors” along with the sleeves of full-tension steel, a component of Puerto Rican electrical infrastructure required to erect new power lines.

The whole article is worth reading, lots of info about the reasons the power grid is such a challenge to rebuild. Many more details about the crazy situation at the electrical warehouse as well. What a mess.

[57Brave]

Ana Navarro
‏Verified account @ananavarro
11h11 hours ago

Ana Navarro Retweeted Erin Schrode

Trump tells the people affected by natural disasters,

specifically Puerto Rico, “We love you. We are with you”.


Tomorrow, FEMA officially shuts-off operations in Puerto Rico.

[57Brave]

The aid will "officially shut off" Wednesday because of progress restoring power and basic services on the Caribbean island, Alejandro De La Campa, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Puerto Rico, told NPR.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...co/1079442001/

[57Brave]

David Begnaud
‏Verified account @DavidBegnaud
24h24 hours ago

Puerto Rico's govt just signaled it's NOT ok with @FEMAs plan to stop disturbing good & water, starting tomorrow
"...we were not informed that supplies would stop arriving, nor did the Government of Puerto Rico agree with this action."

[Hawk]

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...or-puerto-rico