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What has been happening in Puerto Rico - SilverFang01 - 07-22-2019
If any of you are curious about what the hell is happening in Puerto Rico, here is a quick synopsis of the serious injustice and corruption. A couple of weeks back, details of a group chat between the governor of Puerto Rico (Ricardo Roselló), some of his allies and members of his administration were leaked. Some embarrassing stuff was revealed. A day or so later, the FBI implicated his former Secretary of Education, members of his administration and private contractors in schemes to influence the allocation of federal contracts to politically connected consultants and money laundering among other charges. This is just the beginning, get your popcorn ready
At the end of the week nearly 900 pages of screenshots of the group chat were revealed by the Puerto Rico Center for Investigative Journalism. This chat includes all manner of misogyny, homophobia, jokes about killing political enemies, threatening journalists, sharing confidential state info with lobbyists who were in the chat and stood to possibly benefit. But the most disgusting part of these chats was when the CFO joked about allowing vultures to feed off dead bodies from Hurricane Maria as a way to help with cleanup.
As a point of reference, Maria was a Hurricane Katrina level event that took place on a 100 x 35 mile island so you can’t just get your shit and drive inland to escape the damage. Both were Category 5 storms for which government agencies were ill prepared and handled poorly in their aftermath. Bodies piled up in morgues across the island following Maria, bodies the administration refused to acknowledge. 4,600 people died as a result and alleged leaders were joking about the deaths of our fellow citizens.
Our people deserve better leadership than this.
Across the island, people are protesting and demanding the resignation of the governor. Puerto Ricans have gathered in NYC, DC, Miami, Chicago, Orlando, Madrid, even Austria (I know, right?!?!) insisting that he step down. He doesn’t even have the support of his party anymore. The people are fed up, the group chat was the final straw. It’s time to go, Ricky.
This photo was taken earlier today (day ten of the protests) at Las America’s Avenue which at this point is six lanes wide:
RE: What has been happening in Puerto Rico - Black Aeronaut - 07-23-2019
Jesus Everloving Hopping Haploid Christ on a Crutch!!!
Bets that he somehow remains in power, aided and abetted by the GOP in the interests of "Stability"?
RE: What has been happening in Puerto Rico - SilverFang01 - 07-23-2019
(07-23-2019, 10:57 AM)Black Aeronaut Wrote: Jesus Everloving Hopping Haploid Christ on a Crutch!!!
Bets that he somehow remains in power, aided and abetted by the GOP in the interests of "Stability"?
Considering that he is bleeding staff, there are more protests planned, and even the big honchos in his party are starting to sweat? If he stays it will be a very miserable end of term for him.
Articles of impeachment have been drawn. It is only that the Presidents of both chambers are very reluctant to pull the trigger because with all the current resignations the one to get the post will be the Secretary of Justice, and she has her own troubles brewing.
RE: What has been happening in Puerto Rico - SilverFang01 - 07-24-2019
“Patricia Mazzei” Wrote:El Nuevo Día, Puerto Rico’s biggest newspaper, reports that Gov. @ricardorossello will resign by noon tomorrow, and Justice Secretary Wanda Vázquez will take over, per line of succession https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/inminentelarenunciadelgobernadorricardorossello-2507644/
I will not believe it until it’s official, but for the first time in a long while the spark of hope is alight.
RE: What has been happening in Puerto Rico - robkelk - 07-24-2019
Was it under Rossello's watch that Puerto Rico essentially went bankrupt, or did that happen before he became Governor?
The problems might be more than a simple change of leadership can fix.
RE: What has been happening in Puerto Rico - SilverFang01 - 07-24-2019
(07-24-2019, 07:46 AM)robkelk Wrote: Was it under Rossello's watch that Puerto Rico essentially went bankrupt, or did that happen before he became Governor?
The problems might be more than a simple change of leadership can fix.
The bankruptcy issue is deeper than that, with several administrations (since the 90’s) piling on debt to keep the illusion that everything was running hunky dory. So we know it will take time to solve, but by forcing a corrupt administration to resign we are, hopefully, sending a message that it won’t be business as usual anymore.
We just crossed the sea of reeds, now the wandering into the desert begins and hopefully it will forge us into better people.
If there is interest, I can try to give a summary of the economic issues facing the island, how they tie with our status as a territory, and how the U.S., sometimes by neglect, sometimes on purpose drove the situation to this point.
RE: What has been happening in Puerto Rico - Matrix Dragon - 07-24-2019
(07-24-2019, 04:04 PM)SilverFang01 Wrote:(07-24-2019, 07:46 AM)robkelk Wrote: Was it under Rossello's watch that Puerto Rico essentially went bankrupt, or did that happen before he became Governor?
The problems might be more than a simple change of leadership can fix.
The bankruptcy issue is deeper than that, with several administrations (since the 90’s) piling on debt to keep the illusion that everything was running hunky dory. So we know it will take time to solve, but by forcing a corrupt administration to resign we are, hopefully, sending a message that it won’t be business as usual anymore.
We just crossed the sea of reeds, now the wandering into the desert begins and hopefully it will forge us into better people.
If there is interest, I can try to give a summary of the economic issues facing the island, how they tie with our status as a territory, and how the U.S., sometimes by neglect, sometimes on purpose drove the situation to this point.
I seem to recall reading somewhere that US shipping laws require all goods to go through the mainland first...?
RE: What has been happening in Puerto Rico - robkelk - 07-24-2019
(07-24-2019, 04:53 PM)Matrix Dragon Wrote:(07-24-2019, 04:04 PM)SilverFang01 Wrote:(07-24-2019, 07:46 AM)robkelk Wrote: Was it under Rossello's watch that Puerto Rico essentially went bankrupt, or did that happen before he became Governor?
The problems might be more than a simple change of leadership can fix.
The bankruptcy issue is deeper than that, with several administrations (since the 90’s) piling on debt to keep the illusion that everything was running hunky dory. So we know it will take time to solve, but by forcing a corrupt administration to resign we are, hopefully, sending a message that it won’t be business as usual anymore.
We just crossed the sea of reeds, now the wandering into the desert begins and hopefully it will forge us into better people.
If there is interest, I can try to give a summary of the economic issues facing the island, how they tie with our status as a territory, and how the U.S., sometimes by neglect, sometimes on purpose drove the situation to this point.
I seem to recall reading somewhere that US shipping laws require all goods to go through the mainland first...?
Not quite. If a non-US ship stops at a US port, then it isn't allowed to stop at another US port without going to a non-US port first. Since there's substantially more business on the mainland than there is in any island, that's effectively a "stop at the mainland only" law.
This was quite thoroughly explained (and complained about) after the last hurricane season.
RE: What has been happening in Puerto Rico - Matrix Dragon - 07-24-2019
That's probably where I saw and mis-remembered it from.
RE: What has been happening in Puerto Rico - Labster - 07-25-2019
There's also the law that if a ship stops goes between two US ports, then it must be built in the US. Since most large ships cannot be built in the US, this basically turns into the one port rule above. Protectionism at its finest.
RE: What has been happening in Puerto Rico - SilverFang01 - 07-25-2019
It’s official. Ricky Roselló has just resigned as governor. His last day on the job is August the second.
https://www.elnuevodia.com/english/english/nota/ricardorosselloresignsasgovernorofpuertorico-2507862/
RE: What has been happening in Puerto Rico - classicdrogn - 07-28-2019
And now Vasquez has turned the position down, apparently? You know the situation is bad when the big chair is too much of a hot seat for career politicians to want to advance to it.
RE: What has been happening in Puerto Rico - hazard - 07-28-2019
More like Vasquez is aware that her position is sufficiently poor that it's risky for her to take the seat. Which means that the next one in line is pushed forward to take it.
It might even be a careful weighing, looking at Trump, because Trump would've been in trouble but not nearly as publicly and as badly if he didn't end up becoming President. That's what really shone a spotlight on his family's everything. She might think that if she took the position she might end up under similar scrutiny, and she's already in enough trouble, thank you.
RE: What has been happening in Puerto Rico - classicdrogn - 07-28-2019
I stand by my words, I'll refer you to the report the post above
