Tag: Puerto Rico

Our 51st State Or is it the 52nd State?

I recently wrote about the attempt to get the District of Columbia the representation that deserve….https://lobotero.com/2021/01/28/our-51st-state/

DC is the only part of this great country that does not have representation in Congress…there are about 700,000 people in the District that has NO representation…that is more than the whole state of Wyoming.

Now there is an attempt to make Puerto Rico a state as well…..yet another region that is part of the US and they have NO representation….

Two Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday announced they will be introducing legislation to make Puerto Rico a state. Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Rep. Darren Soto of Florida say the bill has around 50 co-sponsors, CBS News reports. It would set up a process for the US territory to become the 51st state if the majority of its citizens vote for that outcome in a referendum, the Hill reports. Axios reports the outline it offers is similar to that undertaken by Alaska and Hawaii when they became states. Republicans will likely not be in favor: “After they change the filibuster, they’re going to admit the District [of Columbia] as a state,” Mitch McConnell said last September. “They’re going to admit Puerto Rico as a state. That’s four new Democratic senators in perpetuity.” Those working for statehood in Puerto Rico push back on that, noting the island often votes for conservative leaders.

Puerto Rican Governor Pedro Pierluisi and Jenniffer González-Colón, the island’s resident commissioner and nonvoting member in the US House, back the legislation. Supporters of the bill say the federal government treats Puerto Rico, which does not have full voting representation in Congress and whose citizens cannot vote for president, unfairly, and that this inequity was laid bare during Hurricane Maria in 2017, when it became clear Puerto Rico lacked necessary resources and is not provided with adequate funding. Yet 47% of Puerto Rican citizens opposed statehood in a November referendum, with some preferring independence and others worrying Puerto Rico will lose its identity. “You cannot compare statehood for DC and statehood for Puerto Rico,” Rep. Nydia Velázquez, who is Puerto Rican, has said. “DC is not a colony, Puerto Rico is a colony.”

This is a tenuous issue…..but in my mind that should be up to the people of Puerto Rico to decide their future….

Any thoughts?

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The 51st State?

Closing Thought–08Apr19

This is a story that has been a long time in coming……the bill to make Puerto Rico our 51st state…..

A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation Thursday that would admit Puerto Rico into the union as the 51st state without a referendum on the island’s territorial status.

The bill was unveiled by Florida Rep. Darren Soto, a Democrat who represents parts of Orlando and its large Puerto Rican community, during a press conference in Washington attended by the island’s Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, a vocal supporter of Puerto Rican statehood. If enacted, the legislation would automatically trigger the island’s admission into the union, bypassing any referendum. 

“I’m exited about the possibility of finally ending this historic injustice. It’s time for all Puerto Ricans to be united behind a noble and Democratic effort,” Soto said alongside Rosselló, local Puerto Rican leaders and Reps. Ruben Gallego, Jamie Raskin, Don Young and Jenniffer González-Colón, the island’s non-voting delegate. “It’s time to let the old battle lines fade away. It’s time to end 120 years of colonialism.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/statehood-for-puerto-rico-lawmakers-to-introduce-bill-granting-puerto-rico-statehood-bypassing-any-referendum/

Will this come to reality?  If it does will Trump veto the bill?

I mean he does not seem to like or appreciate that Puerto Rico is part of the US territories…plus they speak Spanish and we know what he thinks of people that speak Spanish now don’t we?

His admin is trying to screw Puerto Rico out of disaster funds…..and as usual the president  the pillar of America is punching down in his insulting Twitter style…what a pathetic human.

Personally, I think it is a great idea and should have happened 50+ years ago when Hawaii and Alaska were added to the total.

Any thoughts?

Closing Thought–27Sep17

Get Your Priorities Straight, Dipstick!

IST Factoid:  Puerto Rico is a US territory….ergo its residents are US CITIZENS!

The factoid was inserted because there seem to be many that did not know….

Nearly half of all Americans aren’t aware that Puerto Ricans are citizens, according to a new Morning Consult poll.

While 54 percent of Americans know that Puerto Ricans are citizens, 47 percent do not know that, according to the poll, which was first reported by The New York Times. Among Americans with a bachelor’s degree, 72 percent are aware of citizenship for people on the island.

The poll found a connection between knowledge of Puerto Ricans’ citizenship and a willingness to send emergency aid.

According to the report, 8 in 10 Americans who know Puerto Ricans are citizens support sending aid, while among those who do not know, 4 in 10 support sending aid.

It has been a week since Hurricane Maria roared ashore in Puerto Rico and demolished the island in all ways….infrastructure too the biggest hit….60% of the island has NO potable water….there is only spotty electric power and food is running ever so short.

The Island is a wreck and instead to making sure that the country stays laser focused on Puerto Rico Trump spend his Twitter time trying to ramp up some new form of division among us Americans.

After starting the shit storm about the taking of a knee he did finally Tweet about Puerto Rico……

Here are the tweets, in case you missed them:

“Texas & Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble…It’s old electrical grid, which was in terrible shape, was devastated. Much of the Island was destroyed, with billions of dollars…owed to Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with. Food, water and medical are top priorities – and doing well. #FEMA”

Really?  All the compassion, empathy and concern for the people of Puerto Rico is just heart tugging….(complete sarcasm)……

I even saw a Tweet from a yahoo supporter of Trump addressed to some news anchor…..

“Trump is the president of the US….not Puerto Rico…..Move on”

The stupidity of these people is just amazing…..

Trump needs to MAN up and do more for Puerto Rico……why is the hospital ship. Comfort, NOT in Puerto Rico?  (word is leaking out the Comfort will be heading to Puerto Rice.  Why did it take so long?)

We have the perfect model for handling this disaster…..The 1948 Berlin Airlift….refresh your memory…..

Source: Berlin Airlift – Cold War – HISTORY.com

There should be planes landing at regular intervals and it should have begun mere days after Maria pushed through.

The president keeps Tweeting out that people think the US is doing a good job…..does not look like it….but please give me the names of those deluded individuals.

So far talk is cheap…..but talk does not feed, quench or shelter the Americans on the island of Puerto Rico.

Closing Thought–12Jan17

Lately there is has been a wealth of stories in the news about Puerto Rico…most of it having to do with the island going bankrupt…..but there is a new twist to the story of this island state…..

Puerto Rico’s new rep to the US Congress filed a bill Wednesday that would turn the island into the 51st US state by 2025. The bill is the first step in a renewed quest for statehood that’s to include a referendum letting Puerto Rico voters choose between independence and statehood, Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez tells the AP. She filed the bill less than a day after she was sworn in as Puerto Rico’s first female congressional representative, saying she aims to secure equal treatment for the more than 3 million US citizens living in the US territory. “We are treated as second-class American citizens,” says Gonzalez, a Republican who once served as speaker of the island’s House of Representatives.

The bill also aims to relieve a decade-long economic crisis that’s sparked a recent exodus of more than 200,000 Puerto Ricans to the mainland. If Congress ultimately accepts Puerto Rico as a state, the island would receive roughly $10 billion in additional federal funds a year, Gonzalez says. Puerto Rico became a US territory in 1898 and gained limited political autonomy when the US approved its constitution in 1952. However, islanders can’t vote in presidential elections, and their congressional representative has limited voting powers. Statehood is a top priority for Puerto Rico’s new governor, Ricardo Rossello, who has said he plans to hold elections to choose two senators and five representatives to Congress and send them to Washington to demand statehood, a strategy used by Tennessee to join the union in the 1700s.

The US has been raping the island for decades maybe it is time for them to enter into the union…..but first…..what says the people of Puerto Rico?

This should be their decision not some isolated fat cat in the Congress…..

Good day my friends…I look forward to your visits….

Puerto Rico: Trouble In Paradise?

If you have never been to Puerto Rice then get off your ass and visit……it is the tropics, gorgeous beaches, friendly people and you do NOT need passport……..BTW it is a girl watchers paradise….just saying……

But what brought me out to post on Puerto Rico?  It seems they are having a bit of a monetary problem…..

There’s something about Puerto Rico that has caused many commentators to describe it as “America’s Greece,” and it definitely isn’t yogurt. Instead, it’s the terrible state of the US commonwealth’s economy, which has caused Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla to admit that its $72 billion debt is “not payable,” the New York Times reports. “This is not politics, this is math,” he says. The island’s rate of debt to GDP is higher than that of any US state, and its government could run out of cash as soon as July, triggering a government shutdown and other measures, reports the Wall Street Journal, which notes that Puerto Rico’s deep recession began after corporate tax breaks expired in 2006 and manufacturers started to leave the island.

The governor says Puerto Ricans are already struggling with issues such as government austerity, rising crime, and high unemployment and that it’s time for creditors to share the pain by deferring repayments. “If they don’t come to the table, it will be bad for them,” he tells the Times. “What will happen is that our economy will get into a worse situation and we’ll have less money to pay them. They will be shooting themselves in the foot.” Some 24% of Puerto Rico’s bonds are held by so-called “vulture funds” that specialize in high-risk efforts and have opposed efforts to restructure the debt, the Guardian reports. The Times notes, though, that many Americans may have Puerto Rican investments tied up in mutual funds and not be aware of it.

Wait a minute!  Is Puerto Rico a US “territory”?

This country can force feed our cash and stuff to Israel but it cannot find a way to help to help out in Puerto Rico?  Wassup with that?  We accepted this “territory” after the Spanish American War so we are responsible for its upkeep and security.

Time for this country to start acting like the country we were promised back in 1776 and stop helping only those countries that think killing is the only answer……or cut them loose and let them be their own nation.