Thursday President Trump awarded himself 10 out of 10 on the federal government's response to post-hurricane Puerto Rico. Perhaps. Regardless of how the president and FEMA have responded, Puerto Rico was set up for disaster well before Hurricane Maria hit. Revoked tax breaks, needlessly expensive imports, and crippling debt allled to a shoddy infrastructure that's still without power on most of the island.
Thursday President Trump awarded himself 10 out of 10 on the federal government's response to post-hurricane Puerto Rico. Perhaps. Regardless of how the president and FEMA have responded, Puerto Rico was set up for disaster well before Hurricane Maria hit. Revoked tax breaks, needlessly expensive imports, and crippling debt allled to a shoddy infrastructure that's still without power on most of the island.
On the latest "Mostly Weekly," Andrew Heaton explores: how did Puerto Rico get screwed over well before the lights went out, and how do we get them back on?
"Mostly Weekly" is hosted by Andrew Heaton with headwriter Sarah Rose Siskind.
Script by Sarah Rose Siskind with writing assistance from Andrew Heaton, Justin Monticello, and Brian Sack.
Edited by Austin Bragg and Siskind.
Produced by Meredith and Austin Bragg.
Theme Song: Frozen by Surfer Blood.
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How dare you politicize the tragedy in Puerto Rico to push your libertarian agenda.
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H. Farnham
"(WE DON'T KNOW COMICS)"
You don't fool me for a second Heaton... I saw your 'spoooorrts' episode.
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He knows it well enough to know that if he actually chose one of the potential beaus for Batman that he'd be igniting a holy war.
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H. Farnham
/blank stare........
SPOOOOORRRTS!!!
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He's marrying Catwoman soon. If you think politics is violent, wade into one of those debates.
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H. Farnham
Michelle Pfeiffer Catwoman or Halle Barry Catwoman? And is she marrying Beetlejuice, Jerj Kloonez, or the Christian guy?
Ok, now I see your point... this could get contentious.
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There was also one of the strongest hurricanes in recorded history that passed over the entire island.
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Thank you for that concise recap of recent events.
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There just seems to be some confusion in these parts about whether natural disasters are actually real things.
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H. Farnham
The sub-title might shed some light on that assertion...
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There just seems to be some confusion in these parts about whether natural disasters are actually real things.
I don't care what anyone says, Irma identified as a Category 5 Cape-Verde Type Tropical Cyclone and anybody who says different is a bigot, brainwashed into accepting absurd social constructs!
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C. S. P. Schofield
Tony, I suppose it's possible that the hurricane was so strong that there is nothing left that could be used to transmit electricity anywhere on the island, even at this point. But Were that so, there wouldn't be any people left. Face it, this is New Orleans all over again, only without any pesky Republican state next door to show the difference.
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RE: Why the Lights Are Still Off in Puerto Rico
The government set the stage for a post-hurricane catastrophe.No catastrophe would occur in this country, natural or otherwise, if we all just give 95% of our paychecks to Uncle Sam.
Then we would all be living happily ever after.
Just ask any proggie. -
No, no, no.
I have it on good authority that this is all happening because Trump didn't know that Puerto Ricans were Americans, hates "brown people", and also told FEMA to dial back their response because the Mayor of San Juan was mean to him.
I know someone might bring up articles about FEMA and other agencies being there before this hurricane because they were already there responding to the prior hurricane. That doesn't count. If another hurricane hits, you have to send another batch of people regardless of whether there is space or a place for them.
Also, there are people who spent too much time talking about those containers on the docks having nowhere to go because of road damage. Well, the military and logistics experts at MSNBC and fark.com have explained that because we can wage war anywhere in the country, we should be able to deploy Chinooks and air life all the aid we need.
So, to recap, Trump hates "brown people", doesn't think PR residents are US citizens, and won't help unless they talk nice about him. Nothing else to see here.
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creech||#
"Yeah, there needs to be 100,000 Chinooks and pilots standing by, loaded with supplies, in case a hurricane strikes anywhere in the U.S. Oh, and cut military spending." Proggie
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Brendan||#
That, and "FEMA is supposed to be able to handle things like this" while they forget or willfully dismiss the fact that FEMA is in 3 places - US Virgin Islands, Gulf Coast states, and Puerto Rico.
I guess FEMA is supposed to be able to completely handle 3 disasters at once, which means a huge increase in their budget.
I'm of the opinion that FEMA/Feds should be completely revamped as a '10 days later' type agency. The first 10 days are the responsibility of the local/state government, FEMA will come in on day 11 after assessing the situation and coordinating with local/state emergency management agencies.
This idea that the feds have to be there day 1 to take care of everyone just means that we all to cover the full tab for cities/counties/states that assert their "right" to build wherever they want.
The same libs who portray government at every level as being absolutely necessary and important to continually grow so they can take care of everything seem to enjoy going of out their way to excuse the Puerto Rico government's nearly complete failure to do what governments are supposed to.
If Alabama's government did what Puerto Rico's did, the left would waste no time in calling them out for shirking their responsibility, being welfare queens, etc.
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lap83||#
I want to be there, in my Puerto Rico
Ooh, ooohSorry
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BYODB||#
Oh yeah, and don't forget that they need to pay the American minimum wage even though that's patently absurd for them!
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Philadelphia Collins||#
And help from out of state must take a three day sexual harassment seminar before they can help. That worked out fine with Katrina.
Thanks, Anita Hill! -
DRM||#
Hmm? The lights never went off in Puerto Rico. I mean, $70 billion in debt can buy some really nice infrastructure. Especially when spent by wise mandarins with the interests of the people at heart and the knowledge that Puerto Rico getting hit by a massive hurricane was simply a matter of when.
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Just make PR a state already and be done with it.
There's nothing more pathetic and sad than an island pretend it's independent only to beg to the Federal government of the United States.
When I see the PR flag, I see a pretend country.
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The Last American Hero||#
Kind of like that flag with the Maple Leaf on it?
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XM||#
Why do we need Puerto Rico? Just grant them their independence and kick them off the dollar. Let them vaporize poverty by guaranteeing a basic income of 50 thousand "Puertoriqueno Dolares" to everyone in the island. We'll send them some cash to maintain some military bases.
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US doesn't want to take on their debt or add two senators from them. They in turn seem hesitant to join us.
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JeremyR||#
Or more likely, the inhabitants. How much of the Caribbean is well run? Despite being some of the nicest places on Earth?
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