The Puerto Rico Thread

Argumemnon said:
Trump's pretty good at it, no doubt about that, but he does have help from the currently extremely-charged and polarised political climate.
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Trump is certainly... a result of a very specific set of political situations yes.

A "Trump" can't happen often.
 
Argumemnon said:
And no matter what happens, PR caught in the middle. Beautiful.
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That's a point that gets missed to much.

As good as it feels this isn't the time for Schadenfreude and gleeful "I told you so"-ism. I have Liberal friends (and had Conservative friends that were the same way during Obama) that simply are not happy unless "the other side" is messing up.

I'm not. I want Trump to succeed (for very certain definitions of "succeed") because him succeeding is what's best for the country. I don't want to see things get worse and worse just because that proves "My side" right.
 
Argumemnon said:
The right "Trump" need only happen once. This one might not be it, but the next might do in US democracy.
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Maybe I'm being a Pollyanna but I don't think the system is that broken yet. Not to make light of the... problem we're in right now but it's still a system I want to save, not to bury.

Trump is a symptom, not a cause. I don't think we as a people are that far gone yet.

To use a loose metaphor Trump is the fever burning the last of the infection out.

And to be fair maybe I'm just burnt out on all the "OMG My Side Didn't Get It's Way 10000% of the Time Ergo We are All Doomed!" arguments that I wouldn't see the reality of that in time. I'm not discounting that possibility.

But every President in my lifetime was the worst President ever who's going to destroy democracy according to the other side.

Balancing a warning sign with "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" is not the easiest thing to do.
 
Que?

Funeral directors and crematoriums are being permitted by the Puerto Rican government to burn the bodies of people who died as a result of Hurricane Maria — without those people being counted in the official death toll.

...

The funeral home and crematorium directors told BuzzFeed News that they had received dozens of bodies of people who died of hurricane-related causes — just the cases from these two municipalities would potentially more than double the death toll if they were included. The Forensic Institute permitted the bodies of at least 42 potential hurricane victims to be burned, according to one crematorium director.

Puerto Rico’s safety department says the funeral and crematorium directors should send any potential hurricane-related victims to the institute before they’re burned — but admit they haven’t actually officially communicated that to them.

John Mutter, a professor of earth sciences and public affairs at Columbia University who studied how the death count was handled after Hurricane Katrina, said Puerto Rico’s procedures seem to be “deliberately trying to keep the numbers low,” which he called “unconscionable.” Other experts called it a failure of bureaucracy.
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This makes no sense.
 
Civet said:
White House is saying this was all PREPA.
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It is said of the desk in the Oval Office, "The buck stops here."

I think Mr. Trump got confused due to the multiple possible meanings of the words in that phrase.
 
New report from on-the-ground in Puerto Rico.

Still no power. Three miles north of San Juan. They have been told to expect power by February.

This is not the sticks. Commercial and residential. San Juan Metropolitan Area.

Stores and homes with power are using generators, if they have them and can keep them running.

I am beginning to question the reports of 20-25% power restored.
 
quadraginta said:
New report from on-the-ground in Puerto Rico.

Still no power. Three miles north of San Juan. They have been told to expect power by February.
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In comparison to a neighborhood in Havana, September 14, 2017:
After four days without electricity, hundreds of residents from the Santos Suarez neighborhood took to the street in protest on Thursday.
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=127278
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Read the comments to the article in Havana Times!
 
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dann said:
In comparison to a neighborhood in Havana, September 14, 2017:
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Yes but they lack Cuban wealth, know-how and can-do attitude, to say nothing of the entrepreneurial approach that Cuba has fostered over the last 50 years.
 
:) Me dicen Cuba!
Un cubano de verdad da la vida por su tierra
Vive de frente y derecho, preparado pa'l combate

A true Cuban gives his life for his land
Live front and right, prepared for combat
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I look forward to going to a concert with this band tomorrow night!


PS Of course, the Cubans could do without the necessities that force them to adopt this extreme version of nationalism: 'gives his life for his land' ...
 
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JoeBentley said:
Maybe I'm being a Pollyanna but I don't think the system is that broken yet. Not to make light of the... problem we're in right now but it's still a system I want to save, not to bury.

Trump is a symptom, not a cause. I don't think we as a people are that far gone yet.
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I don't usually go for cynicism but I don't think things are set to improve.
 
quadraginta said:
New report from on-the-ground in Puerto Rico.

Still no power. Three miles north of San Juan. They have been told to expect power by February.

This is not the sticks. Commercial and residential. San Juan Metropolitan Area.

Stores and homes with power are using generators, if they have them and can keep them running.

I am beginning to question the reports of 20-25% power restored.
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I read about the percentages being reported with water. If there is some source of potable water, it counts. The example given was a village where they have set up a large tank, and residents can come and fill containers. Every day, trucks go to a nearby town to fill some sort of very large container, the story wasn't clear. Then they drive that container to the village, and dump it in the tank. That village is listed as having drinkable water.
 
Stacko said:
The Daily Beast got their hands on Whitefish's contract.


That is an insanely sweethearted deal they got.
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IIRC... the Gov said they won the job because they weren't requiring substantial up-front monies, something I'd expect would be common in these recovery/rebuild efforts, but whatever.

So my question is... where is tiny Whitefish getting their financing?
Until last month, they were a two year old, two man, shoestring outfit.

Jeez... this is like giving the entire NFL uniform production job to someone on Etsy. :rolleyes:
 
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The White House line is that the contract was solely a deal by PREPA, with no administration involvement. That's fine, but if true it means they were laying down on the job. Was PREPA forced to go with a second rate firm, incapable of managing such a project, because they couldn't scare up 25 million dollars in front money, and only the second string player Whitefish was willing to do it? Someone in the White House should have known that was what was going on, and made sure PREPA knew that shouldn't be a consideration. The administration should have been there slicing through red tape to get the job done in the best way possible.

And again, I don't want to blame everything bad that happens on Trump, just because I don't like Trump, but this is a perfect illustration of why sometimes the only person who can get something done is the president. It needed to be done. He was the only one who could do it. He didn't do it. Sorry, Mr. President, but it really is your fault.
 
1400 containers of food are sitting in US ports, waiting to be shipped to Puerto Rico.

Ricky Castro is a food and beverage wholesaler and president of Puerto Rico’s Chamber of Food Marketing, Industry and Distribution, known as MIDA, which boasts 200 members across the island. This month MIDA conducted an informal survey of 15 members and found there are roughly 1,400 containers of their provisions sitting in U.S. ports, waiting to be shipped to Puerto Rico.

Mr. Castro attributes the delay to the Jones Act, which mandates that U.S.-flagged, -built and -manned carriers conduct all shipping between U.S. ports. This means an oligopoly of three companies—Crowley Maritime Corp., TOTE Maritime and Trailer Bridge Inc.—conduct the vast majority of the protected trade between the mainland and the island, at inflated costs on aging ships. The ocean-going Jones Act fleet numbers a mere 99 vessels, compared to thousands available from foreign-flagged carriers.
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Meadmaker said:
The White House line is that the contract was solely a deal by PREPA, with no administration involvement. That's fine, but if true it means they were laying down on the job. Was PREPA forced to go with a second rate firm, incapable of managing such a project, because they couldn't scare up 25 million dollars in front money, and only the second string player Whitefish was willing to do it? Someone in the White House should have known that was what was going on, and made sure PREPA knew that shouldn't be a consideration. The administration should have been there slicing through red tape to get the job done in the best way possible.

And again, I don't want to blame everything bad that happens on Trump, just because I don't like Trump, but this is a perfect illustration of why sometimes the only person who can get something done is the president. It needed to be done. He was the only one who could do it. He didn't do it. Sorry, Mr. President, but it really is your fault.
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I'd feel a little bit more sanguine about the plausibility of these disconnects if this out-of-the-blue outfit wasn't personal buddies with Trump's Secretary of the Interior, who is known to have gotten a contract for them just last year, and whose son had worked for them.

Did these guys just happen to pick up the phone and make an offer to the Governor of Puerto Rico that he couldn't refuse? All on their own with no prompting? It doesn't seem like the sort of thing they have any past history of.

In fact, they don't seem to have a past history of very much at all.

One would think it needed more than an offer of credit to get sole consideration for a project of this magnitude.
 
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Stacko said:
1400 containers of food are sitting in US ports, waiting to be shipped to Puerto Rico.

1400 containers of food are sitting in US ports, waiting to be shipped to Puerto Rico.



Ricky Castro is a food and beverage wholesaler and president of Puerto Rico’s Chamber of Food Marketing, Industry and Distribution, known as MIDA, which boasts 200 members across the island. This month MIDA conducted an informal survey of 15 members and found there are roughly 1,400 containers of their provisions sitting in U.S. ports, waiting to be shipped to Puerto Rico.

Mr. Castro attributes the delay to the Jones Act, which mandates that U.S.-flagged, -built and -manned carriers conduct all shipping between U.S. ports. This means an oligopoly of three companies—Crowley Maritime Corp., TOTE Maritime and Trailer Bridge Inc.—conduct the vast majority of the protected trade between the mainland and the island, at inflated costs on aging ships. The ocean-going Jones Act fleet numbers a mere 99 vessels, compared to thousands available from foreign-flagged carriers
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.
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Meanwhile, people are ordering and receiving shipments from friends, and from Amazon.
 
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