Things They Say
- Thread starter Runnin
- Start date
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/puerto-rico-us-territory-crisis
I’m not going to deny that the Puerto Rican government caused some of its own pain. But US policy absolutely helped set the stage for the current environment in Puerto Rico. There simply should not be US territories. Either make all US citizens whole through voting rights and equal protections and services or stop controlling their land.
We’ve largely just whistled and looked away as Puerto Rico has had to take measures no US state ever would have had to take to solve its debt crisis. You can put the onus on the Puerto Rican government to some extent, but those “tweaks to the tax code” have not been matched by tweaks to the government funding to put them on par with US states.
This is *impressively* ignorant to how our various laws have decreased Puerto Rico’s ability to conduct business on its own terms.
https://www.cato.org/research-briefs-economic-policy/effect-jones-act-puerto-rico
https://ucfglobalperspectives.org/blog/2024/03/28/the-jones-act-and-puerto-rico/
https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-...in-puerto-rico-than-in-the-rest-of-the#_ftn14
Here’s a few brief points on Puerto Rico. A lot of money was made by US businesses due to the relaxed tax laws, but that money didn’t just freely flow to the people on the island. As tax breaks were removed, businesses left and what was left were higher prices of goods, less freedom to conduct business freely and less federal assistance to help those left behind.
It’s pretty amusing how you disregarded the actual points here where trade in Puerto Rico is impacted by US policies that make tourism and production more expensive. There is less opportunity in Puerto Rico because of US trade policy.
I’m not pro-government corruption in Puerto Rico, but if we are going to insist on making things more expensive for Puerto Rico and give them substantially less public funding to begin with, corruption ceases to be the root cause. More money has been siphoned from Puerto Rican citizens through legal means than could ever hope to be stolen.
Being a dick is largely what being a comedian is. You push boundaries.
Puerto is America, and has a fairly vast array of races. It isn't some third world Caribbean nation.
Why don't we see this outrage when people call NJ the armpit of the US? Or how about when people make fun of Alabamians by saying they sleep with their cousins?
I will agree with you that the punchline itself was more offensive than the actual joke. It just wasn't funny. I get that it's a political rally and you want your jokes to be relatable to politics, but he should have left that joke on the sidelines.
If a Kamala Harris rally featured this line, I’m quite certain I’d never hear the end of it. Though at least Alabama is a reasonable comparison point to Puerto Rico. The duel between the Federal Government and Southern Segregationists in the reconstruction era had a positively devastating effect on the average person in Alabama, and not enough has always been done to address that. But Alabama gets a much, much higher proportion of federal money compared to its population. Alabama has representation in our government. Puerto Rico doesn’t even need to be a partisan issue. Democrats have contributed just as much to the crisis in PR as Republicans have. Part of the issue is caving to the pressures of Unions, and many liberal politicians have stolen money on the island. I also don’t trust for a moment Democratic leadership gives two ****s about Puerto Rico beyond its potentially positive electoral effects. But the current system for US territories is simply an outdated relic and all US citizens in our territories should at the very least be allotted federal funding proportionate to their population and have a voting seat in the House if we’re going to continue to hold sovereignty over their land.
acesfull86
Well-known member
“AOC can run a mean pick 6”
- former football coach Tim Walz
- former football coach Tim Walz
Tapate50
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Impossible coached football
zitothebrave
Connoisseur of Minors
I don't know where to put this, but weird vegan "jill stein" supporter is freaking out about getting community notes for lying. I guess the sauce is important as she was replying to a tweet about Bad Bunny endorsing Harris.
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Runnin
Well-known member
“His understanding of global events, his understanding of global history, his understanding of U.S. history was really limited. It’s really hard to have a conversation with someone who doesn’t even understand the concept for why we’re talking about this.”
Rex Tillerson, Secretary of state
“His short attention span (except on matters of personal advantage) renders coherent foreign policy almost unattainable. The United States missed an incalculable number of opportunities in Trump’s first term because senior officials necessarily concentrated on keeping a few key policies on track.”
John Bolton, National security adviser
“Surely you can’t mean Hitler’s generals? And he said, ‘Yeah, yeah, Hitler’s generals.’”
Gen. John Kelly, Chief of Staff
“So many people who had access to his ear who were telling him things, most of which were untrue, and then he began to listen to those voices and form a view that had no basis in fact.”
Rex Tillerson, Secretary of state
“His ego and love of self distorted his perception of the 2020 presidential election. His sense of betrayal drove him to abandon his oath to ‘support and defend the Constitution,’ a president’s highest obligation.”
Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, National security adviser
“We need to acknowledge he let us down. He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again. ”
Nikki Haley, U.N. ambassador
“If the allegations are true, and there’s lots of indications they are, President Trump had classified documents where he shouldn’t have had them, and then when given the opportunity to return them he chose not to do that. … That’s inconsistent with protecting America’s soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, and if the allegations are true, some of these were pretty serious, important documents.”
Mike Pompeo, secretary of state
“He has never cared about America, its citizens, its future or anything but himself. In fact, as history well shows from his divisive lies, as well as from his unrestrained contempt for the rule of law and his related crimes, his conduct and mere existence have hastened the demise of democracy and of the nation … Our adversaries and our allies both recognize that even his potential reelection diminishes America on the world stage and ensures continued acceleration of the domestic decline we are currently enduring. If that reelection actually happens, the consequences will extinguish what, if anything, remains of the American Dream.”
Ty Cobb, White House lawyer
A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law. There is nothing more that can be said. God help us.”
John Kelly, White House chief of staff
Rex Tillerson, Secretary of state
“His short attention span (except on matters of personal advantage) renders coherent foreign policy almost unattainable. The United States missed an incalculable number of opportunities in Trump’s first term because senior officials necessarily concentrated on keeping a few key policies on track.”
John Bolton, National security adviser
“Surely you can’t mean Hitler’s generals? And he said, ‘Yeah, yeah, Hitler’s generals.’”
Gen. John Kelly, Chief of Staff
“So many people who had access to his ear who were telling him things, most of which were untrue, and then he began to listen to those voices and form a view that had no basis in fact.”
Rex Tillerson, Secretary of state
“His ego and love of self distorted his perception of the 2020 presidential election. His sense of betrayal drove him to abandon his oath to ‘support and defend the Constitution,’ a president’s highest obligation.”
Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, National security adviser
“We need to acknowledge he let us down. He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again. ”
Nikki Haley, U.N. ambassador
“If the allegations are true, and there’s lots of indications they are, President Trump had classified documents where he shouldn’t have had them, and then when given the opportunity to return them he chose not to do that. … That’s inconsistent with protecting America’s soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, and if the allegations are true, some of these were pretty serious, important documents.”
Mike Pompeo, secretary of state
“He has never cared about America, its citizens, its future or anything but himself. In fact, as history well shows from his divisive lies, as well as from his unrestrained contempt for the rule of law and his related crimes, his conduct and mere existence have hastened the demise of democracy and of the nation … Our adversaries and our allies both recognize that even his potential reelection diminishes America on the world stage and ensures continued acceleration of the domestic decline we are currently enduring. If that reelection actually happens, the consequences will extinguish what, if anything, remains of the American Dream.”
Ty Cobb, White House lawyer
A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law. There is nothing more that can be said. God help us.”
John Kelly, White House chief of staff
cajunrevenge
Well-known member
"Be a Slut! Be Rudy's Slut!"