Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, so the people there are citizens of the US. They pay taxes and should have the same standards of protection and support as the rest of the country.

That they have problems with corruption shouldn't diminish this - in fact it should heighten our awareness and we should be stepping up to address both problems.

Washington D.C. is also a territory, and I think we could probably demonstrate some issues with corruption there as well. We wouldn't tolerate this lack of response there, so why do we accept in Puerto Rico. This isn't about Trump specifically, but is an outgrowth of the attitude that government does no good. If you really believe that the government has no good purpose, then you aren't likely to help demonstrate the benefits of government while you are in power.  One party in particular seems to echo this line often, and it is the party that is failing right now.

 BillG wrote: 
Sorry.

In general, I'm pretty impressed with the relative civility of the dialogue in this topic. Pretty rare these days — particularly in regard to this particular individual.

However, phrases such as "WTF is wrong with you" and "pompous sanctimonious holier than thou lips" — when directed at fellow posters — are very, very close to the "no personal attacks" line. 

One helpful reminder: "but he/she/they started it" is not a valid defense here. 

Thanks.

Little Caesars Marketing New Marshmallows ’N’ Gravy Pizza Directly To President

 kurtster wrote: 
Oh yeah, I'm sanctimonious. From the guy who said "oh wah, FWP".  

Yes there are shortages all the time. But this is a major problem caused by a lack of response. As Black321 said, It's not just Trump, the entire response has been pathetic, and not what we expect from a first world nation. We are better than this, and I think it bears some examination as to why we have underperfomed this time. PR definitely has some structural issues (again, why have we allowed those to continue as a US territory?), but our response has been "eh, what can you do, corruption....". We wouldn't say this about any place on the mainland, structural/corruption issues or not.

I don't ridicule those dealing with reality. I ridicule you because you are a heartless fool, and you continue to take every opportunity to put it on display. 

 kurtster wrote: 
it's a FWP.  And perhaps acceptable within the first few weeks after the event, but months later?  Why settle for this? 
And yes, it's not all Trumps fault.  There are plenty others within our ineffective gov and agencies to blame.

 Proclivities wrote: 




Trump does have a "gift" for being spiteful in all circumstances! lol

 islander wrote: 
You can kiss my flippin' ass with your pompous sanctimonious holier than thou lips.

This is a first world problem.  The glass half full is that there is a Plan B.  The glass half empty is that is all Trump's fault.  How about we put all these critical eggs in one third world basket like PR.  This is piss poor planning or an illustration of Rollerball, the consolidation of critical needs in the hands of the few.

These are periodic shortages.  Happens all the time.  Yeah, I remember last hurricane season when the plant in Florida that makes IV blood draw butterflies that the Cleveland Clinic uses was knocked out and I had to endure a yuge gauge straight needle draw.  Waw, waw, waw.  Everyone expects the Mayo Clinic on every corner in every city.  It doesn't work that way.  Shit happens.  But we get through these things.  If we didn't have a Plan B or C, then we have something to worry about.

People like you have unrealistic expectations and laugh and ridicule those whose are in line with reality.  It's an inconvenience, not the end of the world.  Time for you to take some Pixie Dust© and go sit in the time out corner.

 sirdroseph wrote: 
I wrote "seemingly being all but ignored" with that in mind.  I know there were many deep problems there before the hurricane and much of the damage could not be averted, but in October, Trump made several Tweets indicating his disdain for Puerto Rico and its elected leaders, which is what makes it seem "spiteful" on his part.

 Proclivities wrote: 
I thought the point was that Puerto Rico is still a gigantic mess months on after a natural disaster hit.  And now their problems are spilling over into the mainland health care system because of our dependency on their cheap labor and whatever other slack standards have allowed the majority of medical IV bags to be made there.

 kurtster wrote: 
WTF is wrong with you?  As some one who is alive because of medical intervention you have the most amazing ability to be a complete prick about medical and insurance issues. You got yours, so F everyone else huh?  Go back and see if they can revive your soul, you are sadly in need of it.

 Proclivities wrote: 











This from that well known right wing publication Politico:





https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/10/01/puerto-ricos-tragedy-was-years-in-the-making-215662











From the article, hardly abstaining Trump but also reminding us that we really don't know what is going on and making the "by this administration" somehow seem incomplete and perhaps a little partisan even.





"We would feel more comforted by the federal government’s assurances if it had done more—done anything at all, really—to prevent this catastrophe. Because while Washington, D.C., couldn’t stop Maria in its tracks, its treatment of Puerto Ricans as second class citizens is what upgraded this hurricane from natural disaster to human tragedy.





In 2015, Congress imposed a fiscal control board on Puerto Rico in order to pay down our debt. President Barack Obama signed the legislation into law a year later, taking away the financial autonomy of our island and placing it in the hands of seven bureaucrats, three of whom aren’t even Puerto Rican."

 Proclivities wrote: 
Hey - they're just brown people.

 Proclivities wrote: 
Right! I got distracted by being called a snowflake

 meower wrote:
Plus, the larger point of that image post was that a territory of the United States is seemingly being all but ignored by this administration.

 sirdroseph wrote:

 
I actually do agree with you on this one.

But, to be clear, this doesn't remind me of someone not getting their gifts on time. If there truly is a national shortage of IV bags, it is a big problem.

 meower wrote: 


I know, right? It is almost as if they would whine and blame the President for it, oh wait they did and so does the other half of the country depending on who gets elected and the beat goes on.......

 meower wrote: 
I know, right?

 Coaxial wrote: 
can you imagine if someone had had to hold their own IV bag during Obama's admin? 

 meower wrote: 
Or maybe the point is that Americans have done without for months now while their "leader" seems oblivious to them...But of course I could be wrong.