Puerto Rico's Governor Dismantles Media Attacks on Trump's Response to Hurricanes Irma and Maria

[Oneeye]

The fake news media is trying to paint PR as Trump's "Katrina". It is ridiculous how many people are falling for it.

In an interview with PBS Newshourthis evening,Rosselló thanked the Trump administration for their prompt response:

JOHN YANG:Governor, are you getting all the aid you need or getting it fast enough from the states?

GOV. RICARDO ROSSELLO:First of all, we are very grateful for the administration. They have responded quickly.

The president has been very attentive to the situation, personally calling me several times. FEMA and the FEMA director have been here in Puerto Rico twice. As a matter of fact, they were here with us today, making sure that all the resources in FEMA were working in conjunction with the central government.

We have been working together. We have been getting results. The magnitude of this catastrophe is enormous. This is going to take a lot of help, a lot of collaboration.So, my call is to congressmen and congresswomen to take action quickly and conclusively with an aid package for Puerto Rico.

We are in the midst of potentially having a humanitarian crisis here in Puerto Rico which would translate to a humanitarian crisis in the United States. So, I call upon Congress to take action immediately. You know, Puerto Ricans are proud U.S. citizens.

This is a message that Gov. Rosselló and other Puerto Rican officials had been putting out all weekend.

On Saturday, the Associated Pressreported:

Rossello and other officials praised the federal government for planning its response in detail before the storm hit, a contrast with what Puerto Rico has long seen as the neglect of 3.4 million Americans living in a territory without a vote in Congress or the electoral college.

"This is the first time we get this type of federal coordination," said Resident Commission Jenniffer Gonzalez, Puerto Rico's non-voting representative in Washington.

On Monday, FEMA tweeted out about some of the help that had already arrived.

A FEMApress releasedetailed some of the relief headed towards Puerto Rico:

Six commercial barges transported and delivered meals, water, generators, cots, and other commodities to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

An air bridge is established, flying three flights per day to St. Croix, each carrying approximately 33,000 meals.

The logistics support ship SS Wright arrived carrying more than 1.1 million meals, and nearly one million liters of freshwater.

Two shipping barges with 1.2 million liters of water, 31 generators, and more than 6,000 cots arrived in St. Thomas.

Two additional shipping barges loaded with food, water, and emergency relief supplies are en route to the Caribbean Sea from Florida.

Millions of additional meals are being flown to Puerto Rico from staging areas in Kentucky and Florida.

TheDefense Logistics Agency (DLA)is transporting a shipment of 124,000 gallons of diesel fuel to Puerto Rico, with arrival in the coming days.

It may not be obvious to the media, but one of the difficulties in getting supplies to Puerto Rico is that it's an island 1200+ nautical miles from Miami, the closest major U.S. port.

Clearing the ports takes time, and getting supplies for 3.4 million people by plane into devastated airports isn't a real option.

Stars and Stripesreportsthatthe Defense Department has already sent 2,600 personnel to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islandsto assist in recovery.

The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) and Expeditionary Strike Group 2, as well as the USS Wasp, USS Oak Hill, USS Iwo Jima and USS New York, have all participated in recovery operations so far.

Now the media is pearl-clutching about President Trump's tweets on the situation Monday night.

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But again, Gov. Rosselló made the exact same observations in an interview with CBS News earlier Monday -- namely, that Puerto Rico's finances are figuring into the recovery:

The Associated Pressexplainsthis is a cold, hard reality for Puerto Rico:

The island’s infrastructure was in sorry shape long before Maria struck. A $73 billion debt crisis has left agencies like the state power company broke. As a result the power company abandoned most basic maintenance in recent years, leaving the island subject to regular blackouts.

A federal control board overseeing Puerto Rico’s finances authorized up to $1 billion in local funds to be used for hurricane response, but the governor said he would ask for more.

“We’re going to request waivers and other mechanisms so Puerto Rico can respond to this crisis,” Rossello said. “Puerto Rico will practically collect no taxes in the next month.”

In fact, CNNmade this very pointjust hours before Irma was supposed to arrive.

But the threat of a natural disaster comes as the territory deals with a massive economic one.

Puerto Ricohas been watching its economy decline for yearsbecause of enormous government overspending, a big dependence on debt and a costly, inefficient energy system.

Those problems finally led the commonwealth in Mayto filethe biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.Puerto Rico has $74 billion in debt, and another $50 billion in pension obligations on the books.

And risk-management experts:

It should be noted that with the exception of one four-year term, the governor of the Commonwealth has been a Democrat since 1973.

While Congress shouldn't delay the much-needed financial resources to begin to rebuild Puerto Rico from unprecedented devastation, the media and the talking heads attacking Trump are clearly trying to unfairly use Hurricanes Irma and Maria as a bat to beat the president with.

But is any of this new?

https://pjmedia.com/trending/2017/09...urricane-irma/

[Taiguaitiaoghyrmmumin]

This is bullshit. Ricardo is being nice because he needs any help he can get. He doesnt want to piss off trump. Hes politically subordinate at this point and the situation of puerto rico.

First off trump is refusing to waive the jones act. Even though they had no problem doing this for florida and texas.
They dont want puerto rico to recieve more aid from the other countries nearby.

And trump is supposed to send help. Its a catagory 5 hurricane that had winds about 120 mph. But they had to petition for navy hospital ship to be sent. Hes only trying to look like he cares. But behind the scenes hes limiting what help can arrive to puerto rico
Hes even blocking other congress officials from visiting puerto rico
From the horses mouth




He does not care. He didnt lift for his buddies. Because the jones act doesnt help puerto rico. It actually makes products more expensive for puerto rico. And reduces trading with other countries. Because its more expensive for them to ship to puerto rico . But no issue for texas and florida right?

And this smh.

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

This is bullshit. Ricardo is being nice because he needs any help he can get. He doesnt want to piss off trump. Hes politically subordinate at this point and the situation of puerto rico.

First off trump is refusing to waive the jones act. Even though they had no problem doing this for florida and texas.
They dont want puerto rico to recieve more aid from the other countries nearby.

And trump is supposed to send help. Its a catagory 5 hurricane that had winds about 120 mph. But they had to petition for navy hospital ship to be sent. Hes only trying to look like he cares. But behind the scenes hes limiting what help can arrive to puerto rico
Hes even blocking other congress officials from visiting puerto rico
From the horses mouth




He does not care. He didnt lift for his buddies. Because the jones act doesnt help puerto rico. It actually makes products more expensive for puerto rico. And reduces trading with other countries. Because its more expensive for them to ship to puerto rico . But no issue for texas and florida right?

White people are horrible. If only White people left Puerto Rico alone instead of turning it into a perpetual welfare state it would have the means to take care of itself like Haiti.

[Taiguaitiaoghyrmmumin]

White people are horrible. If only White people left Puerto Rico alone instead of turning it into a perpetual welfare state it would have the means to take care of itself like Haiti.

Because puerto rico and haiti have the same plitical situaton?

the US is over 20 trillion in debt at this point. And trump owes 33 million from when he filed bankruptcy on his golf course in PR around 2015....
Hold up we can give welfare to wallstreet though with a bail out... 700 billion...

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

Because puerto rico and haiti have the same plitical situaton?

You appear to have missed the obvious point. Puerto Rico needs the US. The US doesn't need Puerto Rico. Instead of being glad for the aid you whine and complain. You don't think how much worse the situation would be without the kindness of White people.

the US is over 20 trillion in debt at this point. And trump owes 33 million from when he filed bankruptcy on his golf course in PR around 2015....
Hold up we can give welfare to wallstreet though with a bail out... 700 billion...

Normally when I speak to someone in debt I tell them to cut out the most obvious wasteful expenses. Fortunately for the island of Puerto Rico American politicians aren't keen on doing so. Especially not democrats who enjoy the 'welfare-for-votes' system they created.

[Taiguaitiaoghyrmmumin]

You appear to have missed the obvious point. Puerto Rico needs the US. The US doesn't need Puerto Rico. Instead of being glad for the aid you whine and complain. You don't think how much worse the situation would be without the kindness of White people.



Normally when I speak to someone in debt I tell them to cut out the most obvious wasteful expenses. Fortunately for the island of Puerto Rico American politicians aren't keen on doing so. Especially not democrats who enjoy the 'votes-for-welfare' system they created.

Of course they dont need puerto rico. Because they needed them in the early 1900s and cold war era. Not now when puerto rico is broke. At this point puerto rico needs any help but the ideal situation would be if puerto rico was just left to be independant and leaving the debt behind. It would regulate its own rules at least.
The aid was going to happen. Trumps not in the position to stop aid to humanitarian crises to US citizens. It would cause big political backlash. Its like saying im lucky my parents even gave me bread and water to eat today. But when dominos came they told them to turn back...


Or better yet, im lucky the ambulance even came to look at shotgun wounds after calling 911

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

Of course they dont need puerto rico. Because they needed them in the early 1900s and cold war era. Not now when puerto rico is broke. At this point puerto rico needs any help but the ideal situation would be if puerto rico was just left to be independant and leaving the debt behind. It would regulate its own rules at least.

Puerto Rican votes for independence is always a small minority because the rest know they need US money or risk a large drop in their quality of life. This was true now and it was true a century ago.

As for the cold war period nothing would have stopped the US from simply using the island for it's military reasons without caring for the plight of the people. If you think Puerto Rico would have been like Cuba prior to Castro's revolution (booming economy), then you're delusional. Cuba had an educated middle class. Puerto Rico did not. It's mostly because Cuba had a large sugar producing industry that had attracted people and with them came those with skills.

The aid was going to happen. Trumps not in the position to stop aid to humanitarian crises to US citizens. It would cause big political backlash. Its like saying im lucky my parents even gave me bread and water to eat today. But when dominos came they told them to turn back...

Of course it would happen. Even if Puerto Rico didn't have political ties with the US it would happen. White people are kind. They even feed North Koreans.

Or better yet, im lucky the ambulance even came to look at shotgun wounds after calling 911

It must be a bad hypothetical neighborhood. I know if I was an ambulance driver I wouldn't want to risk my life in such a neighborhood. I might get jacked while taking care of someone. I'd prefer the safety of the communities that pay for services through taxation.

[Taiguaitiaoghyrmmumin]

Puerto Rican votes for independence is always a small minority because the rest know they need US money or risk a large drop in their quality of life. This was true now and it was true a century ago.

As for the cold war period nothing would have stopped the US from simply using the island for it's military reasons without caring for the plight of the people. If you think Puerto Rico would have been like Cuba prior to Castro's revolution (booming economy), then you're delusional. Cuba had an educated middle class. Puerto Rico did not. It's mostly because Cuba had a large sugar producing industry that had attracted people and with them came those with skills.



Of course it would happen. Even if Puerto Rico didn't have political ties with Puerto Rico. White people are kind. They even feed North Koreans.




It must be a bad hypothetical neighborhood. I know if I was an ambulance driver I wouldn't want to risk my life in such a neighborhood. I might get jacked while taking care of someone. I'd prefer the safety of the communities that pay for services through taxation.

Puerto rico should just be let off from the US states. That way the US doesnt have to handle puerto rico. And puerto rico could dictate its own rules.

No puerto rico didnt have a large educated middle class. Most were farmers working in US agricultural factories located in puerto rico. Yes puerto rico was used as a port in the carribean.

It would have been better than now. It was wealthier before than when the US took it. And cuba is poor today also. Cuba isnt paradise neither.

And you are wrong. 2 scenerios. They would have been pro US and the US would have not invaded like they did with the dominican republic for such a long time. And likely return it back like they did with DR because of the different time and people in charge. Or cuba would have stepped in to help out. And so if it didnt have a large middle class? It is still better off if it was independant.


I wouldnt want to be gailician in the 1800s or under francos reign neither.

And you look berber mixed
And you couldnt work as an EMT anyways. You arent capable.


Also last voter turn out was low at 25% because most puerto rican protested the referendum. Because puerto ricans were annoyed and and wanted a fair referendum. The option clumped associated state and independant together. They did stuff like this before in other referendums.

[Oneeye]

This is bullshit. Ricardo is being nice because he needs any help he can get. He doesnt want to piss off trump. Hes politically subordinate at this point and the situation of puerto rico.

First off trump is refusing to waive the jones act. Even though they had no problem doing this for florida and texas.
They dont want puerto rico to recieve more aid from the other countries nearby.

And trump is supposed to send help. Its a catagory 5 hurricane that had winds about 120 mph. But they had to petition for navy hospital ship to be sent. Hes only trying to look like he cares. But behind the scenes hes limiting what help can arrive to puerto rico
Hes even blocking other congress officials from visiting puerto rico
From the horses mouth




He does not care. He didnt lift for his buddies. Because the jones act doesnt help puerto rico. It actually makes products more expensive for puerto rico. And reduces trading with other countries. Because its more expensive for them to ship to puerto rico . But no issue for texas and florida right?

And this smh.

Did you even read the article I linked? The level of federal planning to help out PR is unprecedented, there has been millions of supplies sent, snd Trump has been in near constant contact with their Governor.

[Oneeye]

The Jones Act has been waived now, for a ten day period. It may be waived for a long term or even removed.


From The Atlantic

As recovery efforts in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico continue, the Trump administration has reversed course, deciding to temporarily waive a century-old law that requires cargo between U.S. ports be carried by American-flagged and -crewed ships.

Earlier this week, the Department of Homeland Security said it didn’t expect to waive the Jones Act, but White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump granted it immediately after Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló requested the move. The decision comes as Trump, who was criticized for being insufficiently attentive to the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, has begun to focus intensely on the island. But it’s unclear whether the waiver can have much immediate affect in easing the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico, or whether it’s largely a symbolic move that telegraphs that Washington is listening.

RELATED STORY

Is the Federal Government Doing Enough for Puerto Rico?

Rosselló’s argument for the waiver is simple: Puerto Rico needs as much help as it can get, and restricting that aid to the small fleet of barges that carries most goods to and from the island creates a choke-point. As Trump pointed out, it is an island, which means that the trucking and railroad industries, key in moving goods in the aftermath of Harvey and Irma, aren’t a factor.

“By relaxing the Jones Act, you provide more opportunities and more vessels for goods to get an affected area,” explains Marc Fialkoff, an adjunct professor at Virginia Tech’s School of Public and International Affairs who has studied the law. “People get goods faster, because there aren’t that many U.S. vessels.”

Yet it’s tough to gauge the impact of the 10-day waiver announced Thursday. In the immediate term, Puerto Ricans are struggling to get food, water, medicine, and other basic necessities, but that’s not necessarily because they aren’t on the island. Once those goods reach Puerto Rican ports,it’s proven challenging to distribute themaround an island whose roads, electrical grid, communications lines, and other basic infrastructure have been destroyed or badly damaged. Nor is clear how much excess capacity Puerto Rican ports can take, though Fialkoff cautions that should not slow any waiver.

The government issued a short-term Jones Act waiver after Harvey and Irma, but initially hesitated after Maria. It said the earlier waiver was necessary because without tankers of fuel reaching the Gulf Coast, gas prices would have skyrocketed. “We have a lot of shippers and a lot of people who work with the shippers who don’t want the Jones Act lifted,” President Trump said Wednesday.

But the president seems to have bowed to the political reality that issuing a waiver was politically popular. The problem facing mainland politicians is that there is a great deal of public pressure to show effort to help Puerto Rico,even as many of the steps under consideration don’t have clear, immediate impacts. The result has been asteady flowofargumentsthat Trump waive the Jones Act, often with little explanation of what immediate impact the step would have.

American carriers who supply Puerto Rico under the Jones Act contend that’s because there wouldn’t be an impact. “The biggest challenge is how you can move the cargo,” Jose Ayala, vice president of Puerto Rico services at Crowley, one of those carriers,toldThe Wall Street Journalearlier this week. “The cargo is here. The people of Puerto Rico should not have any fear that there is not going to be food or medicine on the island.”

That’s accurate as far as it goes, say some experts. “I think that's true this week, but that's not going to stay true,” saysSalim Furth, a research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation who has argued that the federal government should waive the Jones Act for Puerto Rico as long as federal aid is flowing to the island. “We need a long-term waiver.If they’re using mainland taxpayer money, they should be able to use American goods.”

Here’s the problem, as Furth sees it: Rebuilding Puerto Rico will require huge amounts of goods like steel, concrete, cinder block, and lumber. But transporting those goods on the existing Jones Act fleet will cause various problems. For one, the fleet already runs a tight schedule moving everyday goods to the island, and it’s not clear that it can add huge shipments of building supplies without crowding out basic supplies, nor that the barges that make the runs are well-suited for other cargo. For another, the cost of transporting those goods from the mainland on American-flagged carriers will push up the costs, and lead Puerto Ricans to turn to cheaper goods from Caribbean and Latin American countries. As ofa 2013 Government Accountability Office report, roughly two-thirds of vessels bring cargo to Puerto Rico are foreign.

The Jones Act is a classic protectionist law, put in place to prop up the American maritime industry. That makes it appealing to politicians like Trump, who was elected in part on promises of protectionism. But critics of the law like Furth argue that the Jones Act is actually hurting more American workers than it’s helping, by artificially increasing the cost of getting U.S.-made goods to places like Puerto Rico, Alaska, and Hawaii, and that the true America-first option would be to dismantle the Jones Act.

The debate over whether the law remains sensible nearly 100 years after it was first implemented is a subject of intense debate in pockets of the country—places where residents rely on cargo ships for basic goods, like Hawaii, and in regions whose economies are tied to shipbuilding, like the Gulf Coast—but only occasionally does the mandate bubble up in national discourse. For those fighting to dismantle the act, especially, the disaster in Puerto Rico offers a rare opportunity for political change.

The coalition against the law crosses party lines. Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican,has emerged as one of the law’s fiercest critics. Puerto Ricans have long disliked the law, complaining that it raises the price of many goods for the territory, whose economy is already in shambles. Assessing the exact cost, however, is all but impossible. The GAO found that rates to Puerto Rico had dropped between 2006 and 2010, buteffectively threw up its hands in despairand said it was too complicated to calculate what effect removing or altering the Jones Act might have.

Rosselló, a Democrat, hinted at this debateduring an interview on MSNBC Wednesday, in which he asked for the waiver and added, “We can have a larger discussion later if [the Jones Act] is important in the long run or not.” A group of Democrats in the House, led by Puerto Rican-born New Yorker Nydia Velazquez, this week called for a one-year waiver of the Jones Act for Puerto Rico.

Arrayed against changing the Jones Act are the shippers, longshoremen, and others involved in the existing trade, as Trump indicated in his remarks Wednesday. “The power of this maritime lobby is as powerful as anybody or any organization I have run up against in my political career,”McCain said in 2014.

Issuing a 10-day waiver is politically palatable, but Furth says it’s also inadequate. “A year, two-year, three-year waiver would actually allow Americans workers to have jobs funded by the Puerto Rico rebuilding,” he says. “I hope there’s a message that says, this isn’t just about charity. Free trade with ourselves benefits everyone.”

The obvious endpoint of this argument is that if waiving the Jones Act provides such clear benefits long after the storm has passed, but while rebuilding is ongoing, why should it exist at all?

That’s part of a much longer political fight that’s been raging over the Jones Act for years. Right now, the American public demands action—and it will get action, in the form of short-term waivers, even if that’s not the most effective way to help Puerto Ricans.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...-trump/541398/