The Mess in Puerto Rico. No power on the whole island for 4-6 mos.

This Jones Act this is a problem . . .. a big problem
I did not know about it before now . . . .. and the info I am getting I don't like. . .
I don't think It should not exist

Rocket River

 

I just know we're going to spend the next 24 hour news cycle championing a smut peddler who died of old age while 3 million Americans are living in desperation.

 

WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he’s considering waiving the Jones Act for Puerto Rico ― a law that imposes high shipping costs on the island ― but tempered his support for it because he’s getting pushback from the shipping industry.

“We’re thinking about that,” he said at a White House press event. “But we have a lot of shippers and … a lot of people who work in the shipping industry that don’t want the Jones Act lifted. And we have a lot of ships out there right now.”

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It is such a ridiculous law
I understand Guam has a similar law . . .. that is some bull isht

Rocket River

 

Knowing your priorities is important to making the right decision.

 

Once again Voting is important

Rocket River

 

President Trump just lifted the block on Puerto Rico. Thank you, President Trump, for going Spike Lee on us and doing the right thing.

 

WOW! I am happy for this.
Props to Trump for doing the right thing

Rocket River

 

Even with the lifting of the Jones act Puerto Rico is in a severe crisis. There is a lot of aid stuck at the port of San Juan because they don't have enough transport on the island to get it distributed. The governor is making an emergency call for anyone with a commercial drivers license who can get to PR to help with moving the aid. Hospitals are running out of fuel, there is a shortage of drinking water, and there is a cash shortage as people can't get money from banks. This is an unprecendented crisis on US soil.

 

I know we have some National Guard in Puerto Rico, but not clear we've sent enough. I know the Army Corps of Engineers is there, but again not clear we've sent enough. Maybe I have an irrational confidence in their abilities, but I would have thought a strong immediate turn out of those folks and equipment could be fast about things like clearing roads and reaching people in the interior.

 

The scope of this disaster is too big for what is currently there and I'm not sure if the aid being promised is going to be enough to head off the ongoing crisis. PR needs not only massive amounts of food, fuel, water, medicines and etc.. it also needs external and internal transport. They need as many helicopters and all terrain vehicles as possible to get around the island along with satellite phones and other communication to direct those vehicles.
I don't think the Administration has done a great job but I'm not going to blame Trump. The scope of this disaster is larger and more complex than any the US has faced in modern times. It's also been compounded by decades of mismanagement and neglect by people inside and outside PR.

 

PR people are all citizens of the US. Maybe its just time to move.

 

People get awfully attached to where they live. There are a lot of places in rural America where they complain the towns are shrinking, there's no jobs, politicians ignore them, etc, and I'd tell them to just move to the big city already. But people aren't like that. They're sentimental for the places and communities they know. Young people will probably leave Puerto Rico to find more opportunity, but lots of people will stay.

 

Just because they are citizens doesn't mean we can wave a wand and make the obstacles to giving them aide magically disappear.


Its a natural disaster. It takes time to access and act

 

I'm not the least bit happy about rump's response to the incredible catastrophe that has devastated an island with over 3,000,000 US citizens. Compare trump's response to the response of the US to the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 under a different President:

- Within 2 days the Pentagon had 8,000 American troops in route
- Within 2 weeks, 33 US military ships and 22,000 troops had arrived
- Within 2 weeks, more than 300 military helicopters delivered millions of pounds of food and water

That was the immediate response to a terrible earthquake in a country that had no official political ties to the United States. Now compare that to a US Commonwealth filled with something like 3,500,000 US citizens. It is outrageous!

 

Rural people are subsidized by the government yet they are always railing against the government.

 

What's so outrageous about hemming and hawing over Puerto Rico's debt rather than dealing humanely with American citizens who are left (in many or most cases) without food, electricity, running water, drinking water, phone service (and the ability to tell family directly, "I'm alive, it sucks here but I'm alive".......?

Let them eat cake!

I mean, really, Deck. Aren't you being just a wee bit unreasonable?

 

It takes effort.

 

Just hang in there Puerto Rico. The world's eyes are upon you. Your ratings are monumental and by the time all this passes everyone will know you're an island and islands are surrounded by big beautiful water, ocean water. many don't know that.

on a serious note, props to mark cuban and pitbull for sending their planes.

 

I found this article about disaster assistance and the Red Cross in Houston to be perhaps indicative of what's going on in PR: http://www.houstonpress.com/news/th...rris-county-was-disinclined-to-follow-9816085. Red Cross does things by the book, which slows things down. I like this quote from Ed Emmett: “I broke every bureaucratic rule in the book. Were all these people licensed truck drivers? I don’t know — but we had to get this done.” But, if you have a situation big bureaucratic entities are waiting to see CDLs and background checks while local entities are too walloped to act, how can you do a quick recovery?