Tuesday Open Thread | Puerto Rico Has Been Sent Back to the 19th Century. WHERE IS THIS COUNTRY’S RESPONSE?

Posted on September 26, 2017 by rikyrah

We have 3.5 MILLION AMERICAN CITIZENS who have been sent back into the 19th Century, because of the results of Hurricane Maria.
Puerto Rico has SEVEN TIMES the population of New Orleans..
And the response from this White House has been absolutely ridiculous.

They’re going to bring up an aid bill for Puerto Rico SOMETIME IN OCTOBER?

DA PHUQ?

These citizens are going through hell NOW.

And we have the Incompetent, Unqualified Orange Individual on Twitter attacking professional athletes, but NOTHING about Puerto Rico.

Amount FEMA has disbursed so far in PuertoRico: $2.1 million
Amount EACH of Trump’s visits to Mar-a-lago costs: $3 million

There is no infrastructure on the island.

 

Battered Puerto Rico hospitals on life support after Hurricane Maria

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO (Reuters) – Puerto Rico’s medical services are in critical condition in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

The strongest storm to hit the island in decades has left hospitals flooded, strewn with rubble and dependent on diesel generators to keep the neediest patients alive.

The precarious shape of the island’s medical facilities is adding to the misery and devastation of this U.S. territory, whose 3.4 million residents are American citizens. For some, the only option is to evacuate to the United States for treatment.

………………….
For hospitals across this region, the challenges are mounting. After the power went out, back-up generators at some hospitals failed quickly. Other hospitals are running critically low on diesel. Fuel is so precious that deliveries are made by armed guards to prevent looting, according to Dr. Ivan Gonzalez Cancel, a cardiovascular surgeon and director of the heart transplant program at Centro Cardiovascular.

“Another hospital wants to transfer two critical patients here because they don’t have electricity,” Gonzalez Cancel said. “We can’t take them. We have the same problem.”

Medical staffers are also running low on gasoline for their daily commutes to work. Puerto Ricans are queuing as long as seven hours at the island’s few functioning filling stations. Marilyn Rivera Morales, a nurse at the center, said she had enough petrol to drive to the hospital for two more days.

“How will they keep coming here if they don’t have gas?” Gonzalez Cancel wondered.

They are playing with lives. Someone in the Department of Defense gave bullshyt reasons why COMFORT couldn’t go to Puerto Rico.

Someone refutes the government’s reasons why COMFORT can’t go.

WHY is COMFORT important?

An answer from the foreign policy writer at BJ:

Adam L Silverman says:
September 25, 2017 at 10:14 pm

@Baud: This is one of two hospital, humanitarian response, disaster management, and/or emergency response ships in the fleet. The other is the USNS Mercy. They are designed for this type of thing. Also, in comparison, when the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan we sent over 120 ships as soon as we could put them afloat. Plus significant ground, amphibious, and air assets. Right now we’ve got a US Navy float of four amphibious ships with their Marine Expeditionary Unit, an Army medical company, an Army civil information support unit, some Coast Guard assets, some FEMA assets, etc. Over 3 million Americans are at risk and we’ve sent less than 10% of what we sent to aid Japan.

Ways to donate:

The Hispanic Federation’s “Unidos”: A Hurricane Relief Fund for Hurricane Maria Victims in Puerto Rico

First Lady of Puerto Rico Beatriz Rosselló’s United for Puerto Rico

And GoFundMe’s Hurricane Maria Relief Page, which includes fund drives dedicated to Dominica as well.

Here’s How You Can Help People In Puerto Rico
3.5 million Americans are enduring “apocalyptic” conditions right now because of Hurricane Maria.
By Jennifer Bendery

WASHINGTON ― At least 13 people are dead. Most people don’t have water or power. There’s no cell service. Roads have been totally washed away or blocked by debris. This is life right now in Puerto Rico, where 3.5 million Americans are struggling to recover from the devastation of last week’s Hurricane Maria.

Local officials described the scene as “apocalyptic” on Sunday. And just two weeks earlier, Hurricane Irma blew through and caused as much as $1 billion in damages to the island.

A lot of mainland Americans don’t realize that Puerto Ricans are Americans. FEMA has been providing lifesaving resources to the island, but people there could use any help they can get to try to rebuild their destroyed lives. While President Donald Trump may be spending his weekend trashing football players on Twitter, if you want to lend a hand to a fellow American in need, there are easy ways to kick in a few bucks.

More about the situation in Puerto Rico:

Puerto Rico’s Agriculture and Farmers Decimated by Maria

By FRANCES ROBLES and LUIS FERRÉ-SADURNÍ
SEPT. 24, 2017

YABUCOA, P.R. — José A. Rivera, a farmer on the southeast coast of Puerto Rico, stood in the middle of his flattened plantain farm on Sunday and tried to tally how much Hurricane Maria had cost him.

“How do you calculate everything?” Mr. Rivera said.

For as far as he could see, every one of his 14,000 trees was down. Same for the yam and sweet pepper crops. His neighbor, Luis A. Pinto Cruz, known to everyone here as “Piña,” figures he is out about $300,000 worth of crops. The foreman down the street, Félix Ortiz Delgado, spent the afternoon scrounging up the scraps that were left of the farm he manages. He found about a dozen dried ears of corn that he could feed the chickens. The wind had claimed the rest.

“There will be no food in Puerto Rico,” Mr. Rivera predicted. “There is no more agriculture in Puerto Rico. And there won’t be any for a year or longer.”

…………………

Hurricane Maria made landfall here Wednesday as a Category 4 storm. Its force and fury stripped every tree of not just the leaves, but also the bark, leaving a rich agricultural region looking like the result of a postapocalyptic drought. Rows and rows of fields were denuded. Plants simply blew away.

In a matter of hours, Hurricane Maria wiped out about 80 percent of the crop value in Puerto Rico — making it one of the costliest storms to hit the island’s agriculture industry, said Carlos Flores Ortega, Puerto Rico’s secretary of the Department of Agriculture.

Please call your Congressman and Senators and ask them why there’s no bill for Puerto Rico NOW!!!

Here is Dolt45’s tweets about Puerto Rico.

Look at this foolishness!!

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/912478274508423168

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/912481556127780865

If you have any organization that you know is doing good work in Puerto Rico, please leave it in the replies.
Our fellow citizens need all the help they can get.

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76 Responses to Tuesday Open Thread | Puerto Rico Has Been Sent Back to the 19th Century. WHERE IS THIS COUNTRY’S RESPONSE?

  1. vitaminlover says:
    September 27, 2017 at 10:33 pm

    I feel badly for Puerto Rico.

    Reply
  2. Ametia says:
    September 26, 2017 at 7:52 pm

    You know what’s really dispectful to the American flag?  A Confederate flag. #TakeAKnee
    Posted by: Helen Philpot | September 25, 2017

    Margaret, last week six football players knelt during the national anthem.  This week it was 200.  And just like Colin Kaepernick, they weren’t making a statement about the flag.  I swear this president is so stupid, he couldn’t find his ass if both hands were in his back pockets. 
    Lord help me, but I’ve taken a knee and I don’t want to get up.  Maybe I can’t get up.  I’m not sure which.  Three and a half million American citizens are in crisis in Puerto Rico, North Korea is threatening Armageddon, Russia used Facebook to influence our elections, Nazis are running over young women, Congress wants to take healthcare away from poor people… and our president has nothing better to do except name calling to get a cheer at his Klan rally.

    As the widow of a veteran, I have no issue with any player taking a knee to protest during the national anthem. He has every bit as much right to do that as Donald Trump had to say that McCain wasn’t a war hero because he had been captured. Protecting that right is what my husband and McCain fought for. And all those Trump supporters calling for a football boycott lost their moral high ground when they put that man in the Oval Office.

    A black football player peacefully protests well-documented inequalities that exist within out legal system and a bunch of crackers in Alabama cheer when the President calls him a son-of a-bitch. Are we really surprised? After all, those same hillbillies had no problem when the President called a bunch of protesting Nazis fine people. If we should be outraged about anything, it’s that we have a President who seems to be more comfortable in a white hood than the White House.
    The “sons-of-bitches” in question were protesting social inequalities. The fact that Trump and his supporters equate that to protesting America is telling if you ask me. But what is even more telling is how Trump insults the players’ mothers rather than the player.

    You know what’s really disrespectful to the American Flag and the men and women who fought to defend it?  The Confederate flag.  I mean it.  Really.

    https://margaretandhelen.com/2017/09/25/you-know-whats-really-dispectful-to-the-american-flag-a-confederate-flag-takeaknee/

    Reply
  6. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 6:57 pm

    Spicer has lawyered up

    Reply
  15. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    September 26, 2017 at 5:28 pm

    Excerpt from this link:
    http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2017/09/birmingham_makes_discriminatio.html

    The Birmingham City Council, on Tuesday, made it a criminal offense for any entity operating in the city to discriminate against a person based on his or her race, sexual orientation, national origin, gender identity or disability.

    The city-wide non-discrimination ordinance covers housing, public accommodations and employment. The ordinance will be enforced through Birmingham Municipal Court.

    The city council passed the ordinance unanimously following a public hearing. Councilors Kim Rafferty and William Parker weren’t in attendance for the vote.

    “Birmingham has a responsibility to protect all of its citizens the best way we can, and that it exactly what we are attempting to do today by passing this ordinance,” City Council President Johnathan Austin told AL.com. “Fortunately, the council saw the wisdom in it, approved it unanimously, and it is just one step towards making the city of Birmingham a more inclusive and open community for all citizens. That is something we have to continue to work on. That is something we have to continue to fight for.”

    He said he expects that the state Legislature will challenge the ordinance.

    Continuation of article:

    According to the ordinance, any person or entity found guilty of discrimination will face a fine of up to $500. First offenders will be subject to a fine of $100. The second violation will be subject to a $250 fine.

    Barnard said there won’t be any redress for people who has been discriminated against. They won’t be able to get their jobs back. They won’t be awarded back pay, she said.

    Those measures would have to be sought in a civil setting, Barnard said.

    The ordinance also calls for the creation of a Birmingham Human Rights Commission. The 11-member body will include one appointee from each of the city council districts; a representative from a human rights non-profit organization; and a representative from a business or other employer with its principal location in the city.

    Reply
  18. Ametia says:
    September 26, 2017 at 4:30 pm

    HA! The RATS are jumping ship

    Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chair of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee, is retiring, dealing a blow to the GOP establishment
    The influential Republican announced that he will not run for reelection in 2018. Corker was once considered an ally of President Trump, but the two of them have exchanged words since then. Corker recently called into question Trump’s stability, and Trump responded by tweeting that Corker was “constantly asking me” whether to seek reelection.

    “When I ran for the Senate in 2006, I told people that I couldn’t imagine serving for more than two terms,” Corker said. “I have always been drawn to the citizen legislator model, and while I realize it is not for everyone, I believe with the kind of service I provide, it is the right one for me.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/republican-senator-from-tennessee-announces-his-retirement/2017/09/26/df106d96-a2f3-11e7-b14f-f41773cd5a14_story.html?utm_term=.15d24d9e49ee&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%252Bnation&wpmk=1

    Reply
  19. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 2:57 pm

    OT Good News: The USN Comfort has – finally – been dispatched and is on its way to Puerto Rico.

    Reply
  20. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 2:47 pm

    Saudi Arabia agrees to let women drive. https://t.co/Sbv3KXUBVz
    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 26, 2017

    Reply
  21. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 2:45 pm

    Not to be a downer, but if Dems don’t turn out in huge numbers in 2018 Rs will get a 60v Senate and pass s’thing worse than Graham Cassidy.
    — Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) September 26, 2017

    Reply
  27. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 1:40 pm

    The Turtle pulls Graham-Cassidy.
    There will be no vote.

    Reply
  28. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 1:35 pm

    Did Trump Just Figure out that Puerto Ricans Are Americans?

    In contrast to the all-hands-on-deck response to hurricanes in Texas and Florida, President Trump has been shockingly inert when it comes to Puerto Rico’s and the U.S. Virgin Islands’s devastation in the wake of Hurricane Maria — which appears far more serious and potentially long-lasting than the damage visited by hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

    …. Here the image may be of Trump shouting about NFL players at a political rally in Alabama, or a screen shot of his obsessive tweets and insults about athletes standing (or not) during the national anthem. His neglect of the Spanish-speaking American territory will be labeled racist, and he surely has provided ample evidence of his lack of concern for anyone but his own base of primarily white males.

    Someone at the White House apparently caught on. Today, the administration hurriedly announced that Trump would be visiting Puerto Rico — next Tuesday. ….

    Trump cares only about what’s in front of his nose and what’s on Fox News (which has been wall-to-wall NFL-protest coverage). His obsession is divisive culture wars, not governance — and the latter is what matters in moments of true crisis. One can imagine he had no real appreciation for the depth of the suffering wrought by Maria, nor political reason that the non-voting islands would warrant his attention. He better focus fast, utilize every resource imaginable and stop engaging in divisive nonsense in lieu of responding to a third natural disaster.

    Reply
  30. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 12:45 pm

    Alabama Is the First Battle in the War of Republican Oligarchs
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    September 26, 2017

    Last Friday, Trump traveled to Alabama to stump for Luther Strange, who is running against Roy Moore to be the Republican nominee that will face Democrat Doug Jones in a special election to fill Jeff Sessions’s Senate seat. As Steve Benen pointed out, it wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement. The president actually talked about the fact that he might have made a mistake in backing Strange.

    Oh. So the president has endorsed Strange, but he’s not sure if that was the right move; Trump is principally concerned about his own image; and if Strange loses the primary runoff, the president will enthusiastically back his rival in the general election.

    Last night, on the eve of the runoff, Steve Bannon showed no such hesitation in his speech at a rally for Moore. The former White House chief strategist went out of his way to support Trump, saying “We did not come here to defy Donald Trump, we came here to praise and honor him,” which sounded creepy as hell to me. Bannon also didn’t say a word about Democrats or Doug Jones. Instead, his ire was all reserved for the Senate majority leader and those who have supported the Strange campaign.

    ………………………

    While Bannon hit all of his regular so-called “populist” memes, this Republican primary is actually the opening battle in the war between the oligarchs who want to control the GOP.

    As Republican leaders fret over a possible loss of control of the Senate due to Bannon’s actions, they fail to notice that Bannon is not playing a short-term game for GOP majorities in Congress. Bannon’s game is one for control of the Republican Party writ large.

    It’s clear that Mercer has no small amount of envy for the Koch brothers, the billionaire siblings whose will has largely shaped the GOP agenda as the party became ever more dependent on the political infrastructure built by the Kochs and the donor network they have cultivated over the course of decades. No longer insurgents, the Kochs and their political beneficiaries have become part of the GOP establishment…

    Bannon and his patron Mercer, it seems, are willing to take their chances on the possible loss of the GOP’s narrow Senate majority if the gambit places Mercer in the kingmaker’s seat, supplanting the Koch brothers in that role.

    Reply
  31. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 12:11 pm

    HEALTH CARE
    GOP already eyeing next chance to revive Obamacare repeal
    Senate Republicans are discussing whether to use their next budget reconciliation measure to target the health law.
    By SEUNG MIN KIM, JENNIFER HABERKORN and BURGESS EVERETT 09/25/2017 07:31 PM EDT

    The supposedly hard deadline at the end of the month to repeal Obamacare might not be so hard after all.

    With their latest attempt to dismantle the health law on track to fail this week, GOP senators are already raising the prospect of going after it again with the same powerful tools that currently let them pass legislation with just 50 votes.

    There is nothing to suggest Obamacare repeal would get any easier in the coming months and doing so may significantly hobble the Republican majority’s other chief legislative priority: tax reform. But facing a floundering repeal push, wrath from the base and a frustrated President Donald Trump, Republicans may have no other choice but to keep pushing to uproot the law.

    “We’ve got to do both,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said of tackling both Obamacare repeal and tax reform next year. “They’re complicated by necessity. So I don’t think that takes away the complications. But I think we’re supposed to be able to handle complications.”

    Hatch added, however: “If it’s used to screw everything up, I’m not for that.”

    Here’s how it could be done: While the Senate parliamentarian has ruled that the repeal push under fiscal 2017 must die after Sept. 30, Republicans could provide reconciliation instructions for both health care and tax reform in the fiscal 2018 budget resolution that Congress must pass to again unlock the fast-track procedural powers. That might entail some procedural hurdles, but one GOP aide said Monday that because the Finance Committee has jurisdiction over about 95 percent of health care policy, “it’s not like we couldn’t slip it in anyway.”

    Reply
  33. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 12:07 pm

    The Evil never sleeps with these muthaphuckas:

    Republicans agree to raise bottom tax rate, double standard deduction

    Top White House and GOP leaders have agreed to raise the lowest individual tax rate from 10 to 12 percent, paired with doubling the standard deduction, 5 senior Republicans tell us.

    Why this matters: Trump intends to sell the proposal tomorrow as a populist “tax cut.” But as recently as yesterday top Republicans on Capitol Hill were nervous as they got word that Trump wasn’t entirely thrilled with the product that had been hashed out in immense secrecy for weeks (with two members of his administration, Gary Cohn and Steven Mnuchin, working with GOP leaders.)

    Late last night Republicans close to the process felt more confident that Trump had come around to supporting the framework — despite his misgivings about the corporate rate not being low enough and about the political risks of raising the lowest rate (even though many more people will now pay no tax because of the increased deduction, meaning they can accurately call it a tax cut for the middle class as well as for the wealthy.)

    Big picture details: Republicans plan to collapse the number of brackets from seven to three. The standard deduction would almost double to $12,000 for a single filer and $24,000 for married couples, meaning Trump can accurately argue that many more low income earners would pay no tax under his plan. As we previously reported, the top tax bracket would fall from 39.6% to 35%.
    Yes, but: Trump won’t go into great detail when he talks about the tax plan tomorrow in Indiana, leaving plenty of negotiating room for the tax-writing committees in the House and Senate. As of yesterday morning Trump hadn’t signed off on the final product, and as with all policy announcements involving Trump, Republican Hill leaders will be holding their breaths to some extent until the president actually utters the words. Speaking with conservative groups at the White House yesterday Trump, reassured them of his commitment when he gushed about the “tax cut” he was planning to unveil.

    Reply
  36. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 10:17 am

    Have those good government groups looking into the travel of Dolt45’s corrupt Administration looked into Betsy DeVos?

    I can’t see her taking commercial.

    Reply
  37. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 10:16 am

    Interior Secretary says much of his team is ‘not loyal to the flag’
    09/26/17 10:48 AM
    By Steve Benen
    Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke hasn’t been on the job long, but he’s already managed to raise his profile in ways most Interior secretaries usually don’t.
    ……………………………………………..

    Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Monday that nearly one-third of employees at his department are not loyal to him and President Donald Trump, adding that he is working to change the department’s regulatory culture to be more business friendly.

    Zinke, a former Navy SEAL, said he knew when he took over the 70,000-employee department in March that, “I got 30 percent of the crew that’s not loyal to the flag.”

    He reportedly made the comments “to an oil industry group.”

    I haven’t seen the full context, but based on the Associated Press’ account, Zinke reference to “the flag” was metaphorical: he was apparently talking about loyalty to the president, not the country.

    Of course, that doesn’t exactly make his comments sensible.

    The truth is, career officials at the Department of the Interior have a responsibility to be loyal to their agency’s goals and the nation’s interests. That’s kind of the point of having career officials: they stick around to do the job of governing no matter who’s in the White House.

    If Zinke is finding that a big chunk of the Interior’s longtime employees is resistant to his corporate-friendly vision for the agency, then perhaps there’s something wrong the vision, not the workforce.

    Reply
  38. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 10:10 am

    GOP health care repeal crusade runs into a brick wall
    09/26/17 08:41 AM—UPDATED 09/26/17 09:00 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Keeping up on Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act can be exhausting. Every threat of GOP success causes a degree of panic among health care advocates, which is followed by relief when those repeal bills fizzle, which is followed by a new round of anxiety when Republicans regroup and try again. And again. And again.

    ………………………..

    And yet, I’d caution against exhaling just yet.

    First, the deadline isn’t until Saturday at midnight, and while the bill certainly appears dead now, we’re dealing with unpredictable circumstances. The will among Republicans to undermine the system hasn’t faded, and as the desperation intensifies, the desire to pass something grows with it.

    Second, we don’t yet know whether there will be a vote. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) suggested the bill is likely to reach the floor, even if its defeat is a foregone conclusion. Democrats I’ve talked to would be delighted if GOP leaders go this route: the more Senate Republicans tie themselves to a woefully unpopular bill, the better it is for their opponents. On the other hand, if GOP senators, recognizing that the bill is doomed, reject it en masse, Dems will be able to boast about the bipartisan opposition the repeal bill faced.

    And yet, Republicans may give Democrats what they want. “There are a lot of people who want to vote yes and be recorded as voting yes,” Cornyn said yesterday. “I think there is some advantage to showing you’re trying and doing the best you can.”

    This is rather bizarre. Republicans are already on record voting for repeal – see floor developments from the summer – and no sensible person can look at Graham-Cassidy and believe this is “the best” the GOP can do.

    That said, the Senate Republican conference is scheduled to meet today for its regularly scheduled gathering, at which point they’ll decide how and whether to jump off this cliff.

    Reply
  39. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 10:07 am

    Trump responds to crisis in Puerto Rico in Trump-like fashion
    09/26/17 08:00 AM—UPDATED 09/26/17 08:50 AM
    By Steve Benen

    A week after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, Americans on the island are still facing crisis conditions. As Rachel noted on last night’s show, many Puerto Ricans are still without power and water, and limited phone service is hampering emergency-response efforts.
    It’s against this backdrop that Donald Trump has focused his attention elsewhere. The president published a brief tweet last week, but was far more engaged over the weekend with athletes engaged in civil rights protests than the crisis on the U.S. territory.

    ……………………………………

    The president added that Puerto Rico is “billions of dollars in debt to Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with.”

    Oh. So more than half of the Americans on the island don’t have safe drinking water, and after prolonged silence, Trump decided this would be a good time to emphasize to Puerto Ricans the money they owe to Wall Street.

    Can’t you just feel the populism?

    Philip Carter wrote in Slate yesterday, “So far, the Trump administration has dispatched an anemic Federal Emergency Management Agency mission and sundry military units to assess the situation and provide support. But in some cases it took the federal government days to even contact local leaders in Puerto Rico’s major cities, let alone deploy aid. Only the most rudimentary military support is now on the ground. This is inadequate and calls to mind the lethargic response by the Bush administration to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.”

    For much of the last eight years, Republicans and assorted pundits seemed desperate to find “Obama’s Katrina,” which was foolish, and ultimately, pointless. Given developments in Puerto Rico, will those same political observers be equally quick to reference “Trump’s Katrina”?

    Reply
  40. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 10:04 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/25/17
    Americans in Puerto Rico beg for federal help six days post-storm
    Rachel Maddow reports on the still dire situation in Hurricane-stricken Puerto Rico and the inadequate response so far from the federal government, which has had to be reminded that Puerto Ricans are Americans.

    Reply
  41. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 10:00 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/25/17
    Protesters dragged from health care repeal hearing
    Rachel Maddow reports on the ADAPT protesters who waited in line all day for the only Senate committee hearing to be held on the new ACA repeal bill, and the protest and arrests that soon followed.

    Reply
  42. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 9:58 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/25/17
    Facebook warned FBI of Russian activity twice during 2016…
    Rachel Maddow reports on developments in what is known about how Russia used Facebook to manipulate the American democratic process including buying ads to amplify American cultural divisions.

    Reply
  43. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 9:56 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/25/17
    Trump campaign manager working against mission of US war in Iraq
    Rachel Maddow reports on Kurdish people voting on a referendum to become independent from Iraq, a situation the U.S. has fought to prevent but Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort has been paid to promote.

    Reply
  44. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 9:52 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/25/17
    Trump, Republicans failing again on promised health care repeal
    Rachel Maddow looks back at how the Republican Congress swore in early to get a jump on the campaign promise of repealing Obamacare and yet are poised to fail to do so again despite controlling Congress and the White House.

    Reply
  45. Liza says:
    September 26, 2017 at 9:47 am

    Puerto Ricans Call for Aid Amid Catastrophe: “We’re American Citizens. We Can’t Be Left to Die”
    STORY SEPTEMBER 26, 2017

    Six days after Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico, 3.4 million U.S. citizens in the territory remain without adequate food, water and fuel. But as the massive crisis became clear over the weekend, President Trump failed to weigh in, instead lashing out at sports players who joined in protest against racial injustice. It took the president five full days to respond, with comments that appeared to blame the island for its own misfortune. We examine the dire situation in Puerto Rico with Yarimar Bonilla, Puerto Rican scholar, who wrote in The Washington Post, “Why would anyone in Puerto Rico want a hurricane? Because someone will get rich.” And we speak with Puerto Ricans in New York who have been unable to reach loved ones after nearly a week.

    Video at link:
    https://www.democracynow.org/2017/9/26/puerto_ricans_call_for_aid_amid

    Reply
  46. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 9:16 am

    Pence warns Alaska that if Graham-Cassidy fails, they could end up with the health-care of “a place called Canada”: https://t.co/EPpFbHDK19— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) 26 September 2017

    Reply
  47. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 9:15 am

    Use our blue state/red state call tool if you have a Dem Senator! Also make sure to thank your Senators too. https://t.co/9YEDnwPtxp pic.twitter.com/8VYI7473h9
    — Indivisible Guide (@IndivisibleTeam) September 25, 2017

    Reply
  48. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 9:10 am

    New study: Wisconsin voter ID law blocked tens of thousands from polls in 2016. Clear evidence of disenfranchisement https://t.co/L0Exkfk1US
    — Ari Berman (@AriBerman) September 26, 2017

    Reply
  49. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 9:08 am

    Obama spokesman Lewis says the former President has donated $2M from speeches this year to job-training programs for low-income young people
    — West Wing Reports (@WestWingReport) September 26, 2017

    Reply
  50. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 8:53 am

    Just got a “stand or kneel” email from POTUS with a push poll and ask for support. He’s using our national anthem to raise cash. Disrespect.
    — Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) September 25, 2017

    Reply
  51. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 8:53 am

    When Mitt Romney starts speaking truth, you know things are bad. https://t.co/rHrr43NABB
    — Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) September 26, 2017

    Reply
  52. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 8:52 am

    I think: By kneeling, players don’t disrespect the flag.They ask US to respect the flag. They ask us to make the anthem true for all of us.
    — shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) September 24, 2017

    Also, the man should stop talking sports and read up on foreign relations and health care so we don’t all die uninsured in a nuclear winter.
    — shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) September 24, 2017

    Reply
  53. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 8:52 am

    “He died with a part-time job at Taco Bell. I don’t want to end up like that.” Proud to distribute TEACH US ALL. Debuting today on @Netflix. pic.twitter.com/FFGihzFSmm
    — Ava DuVernay (@ava) September 25, 2017

    Reply
  54. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 8:48 am

    Marc Anthony to Trump: “Shut the f-ck up about NFL” and do something for Puerto Rico https://t.co/4qxUtHDoxa pic.twitter.com/xJAyoJkN17
    — The Hill (@thehill) September 26, 2017

    Reply
  55. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 8:43 am

    A9: The 866-OURVOTE hotline is a great resource if you run into any issues. (Tweet them too! @866OURVOTE) #MillennialMon
    — NatlVoterRegDay (@NatlVoterRegDay) September 25, 2017

    Reply
  56. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 8:42 am

    While the GOP is trying to repeal the ACA, They don’t want you to know OPEN ENROLLMENT IS NOVEMBER 1st #MorningJoe pic.twitter.com/4KX7RHc13W
    — #LaquanMcDonald (@ifuaskmee) September 25, 2017

    Reply
  57. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 8:41 am

    Today marks the 6th annual #NationalVoterRegistrationDay. Here are five things you need to know. https://t.co/VOt1tllfat
    — Lawyers’ Committee (@LawyersComm) September 26, 2017

    Reply
  58. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 8:40 am

    No Chants of ‘Lock Them Up!’
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    September 26, 2017

    John Dawsey broke this story over the weekend:

    Presidential son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has corresponded with other administration officials about White House matters through a private email account set up during the transition last December, part of a larger pattern of Trump administration aides using personal email accounts for government business.

    Kushner uses his private account alongside his official White House email account, sometimes trading emails with senior White House officials, outside advisers and others about media coverage, event planning and other subjects, according to four people familiar with the correspondence. POLITICO has seen and verified about two dozen emails.

    It’s not like Kushner is simply taking up space in the White House because he is the president’s son-in-law. In addition to being put in charge of things like reinventing government, solving the opioid epidemic, and reforming the criminal justice system, he has been tasked with sensitive issues like the Middle East peace process and our relationship with China. Dowse reports that there is no indication that Kushner has shared sensitive or classified information related to these tasks over private accounts. But we can’t know that for sure.

    Reply
  59. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 8:35 am

    The #GOP is trying to slip one through – gutting the rule that Equifax and Wells Fargo are worried about #p2 #resist https://t.co/6gOgyQrkdT
    — Bruce Bourgoine (@BruceBourgoine) September 26, 2017

    Reply
  60. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 8:25 am

    Now more than ever, your vote matters. Today is #NationalVoterRegistrationDay. Are you registered? #VotingRights https://t.co/m8e9xStqmN pic.twitter.com/4Nz3VOBOIJ
    — WomensFundingNetwork (@womensfunding) September 26, 2017

    Reply
  61. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 8:24 am

    CBO has found that Trump’s Obamacare sabotage would cost $194 billion, drive up premiums 20% https://t.co/FqRT2UFeRt
    — igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) September 26, 2017

    Reply
  62. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 8:23 am

    I think that the GOP is creating a hardening among some people. There are the 27% crazyfication factor that will go with the GOP, no matter what. But, there are others, who don’t pay a lot of attention to politics. Who are out there just living their lives. But, healthcare is a part of their lives, and they don’t understand what’s going on.

    Maddow had a piece on Friday, where she showed a clip of a mother of a disabled child in Kansas. This woman didn’t look like any firebrand. She didn’t look like any kind of an activist. She looked like a plain, suburban White mother. But, there was something in her voice. When she stood in Moran’s office. She said, and I’m paraphrasing

    ” I don’t understand why I have to keep on coming back here to ask this Senator not to take away what helps me keep my son ALIVE.”

    She’s but one person. But, as folks have pointed out..Medicaid services 1 in 5 Americans. She is but one of those stories, but all of them have been repeatedly threatened.

    You can only threaten someone’s life or the lives of those they love only so many times before something happens. This battle has cut through the bullshyt. It has made it clear who wants to take away your healthcare. No ambiguity in the least.

    Reply
  63. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 8:17 am

    Obamacare’s Paradigm Shift: Why the GOP’s Repeal Efforts are Faltering

    Republicans voted some 50 times to repeal Obamacare when President Obama was still president and there was no danger of their repeal actually becoming law. They lambasted President Obama’s crowning achievement in office for every problem with American health care and ran for eight years on a promise to repeal it. But suddenly now that they have total political power: the House, the Senate and the presidency – they don’t seem to be able to come up with a plan that has even a majority support in the US Senate, let alone clear its 60-vote legislative hurdle that will kick in October 1.

    The Graham-Cassidy bill that has gained – and lost – steam of late is yet another attempt by the Republicans to take healthcare away from tens of millions of people who now have it and repeal patient protection regulations impacting nearly every American. The bill is hardly different from other failed Republican attempts to turn back the clock on progress, complete with rolling back Medicaid expansion, deep funding cuts, and gutting standards that make insurance affordable for people with pre-existing conditions.

    Once again, this is what the Republicans campaigned on for the better part of a decade. And yet – despite Cassidy and Graham’s revised bribes to holdout Senators from Maine, Alaska, Arizona and Kentucky – the GOP’s latest effort at repeal appears no closer to passage.

    To hear the pundits discuss it, Republicans are having a tough time having the ends meet on their batshit crazy… I mean “conservative” and slightly less insane (“moderate”) wings of the party. Some GOP senators from Medicaid expansion states are weary of their states losing money (and they would – all 50 directors of Medicaid have come out against Graham-Cassidy), while others are concerned that the insurance market will not be turned into the wild west.

    Reply
  64. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 8:16 am

    Analysis of latest GCHJ bill shows 29 states & DC would see a reduction of $0-$10B, 2020-2026 https://t.co/bbIxlcnh9G pic.twitter.com/WgQ4rHcKGC
    — Avalere Health (@avalerehealth) September 26, 2017

    Reply
  65. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 8:14 am

    RT if you agree w/ @jimmykimmel then CALL THE @SenateGOP: Oppose #GrahamCassidy & stop #Trumpcare: 844-859-3118 pic.twitter.com/jx9ZLM2PF4
    — MoveOn.org (@MoveOn) September 26, 2017

    Reply
  66. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 8:14 am

    Trumpcare looks dead, but the margin of its defeat matters. Its opponents shouldn’t let up, writes @DLeonhardt https://t.co/TapWN7cEZY
    — NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) September 26, 2017

    Reply
  67. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 8:12 am

    Trump Is Ignoring the Mounting Catastrophe in Puerto Rico
    by Martin Longman
    September 25, 2017

    The president really should be concentrating almost all his attention on foreign policy and domestic relief efforts. Puerto Rico needs the modern equivalent of the Berlin airlift, but this time on the scale not of a city but of a state or country.

    Planning for something of this scale needs to start immediately because without it, the death toll in Puerto Rico will become unimaginable. The number of people who are out of money, food, water, fuel and critical medical supplies will grow every day. Many areas of the country are virtually inaccessible due to damaged infrastructure, obstructed roads, and lack of communications. There are people already suffering from lack of food and water, and starvation isn’t far off.

    We need new airstrips and all hands on deck to restore power. We need thousands and thousands of cargo flights, probably on an ongoing basis for the next year. We need vast amounts of equipment and manpower to operate it in order to clear debris, clear roads, and get things in a condition to where people can begin to rebuild. We need mobile medical teams that can move in and out of remote areas and evacuate those who will die without supervision.

    Here’s just one example of what’s going on in Puerto Rico right now, and you can imagine how quickly it will get worse:

    The 63-year-old mother, Maria Dolores Hernandez, had cotton stuffed in her ears to keep flies out, since her now screenless windows were letting all sorts of bugs in. The gray-haired diabetic woman spoke with her daughter about her worries: that she would run out of prescription drugs, that they were almost out of generator fuel to keep her insulin refrigerated and to run the fans at night. With all the heat, she feared that her ulcer would become infected…

    …Aldea, who works as a secretary in the mayor’s office, is living with and taking care of her mother in the tiny room downstairs. Darangellie spends most of the days with a relative in town, but at night she sleeps with her mother. The child has asthma and needs to use a daily nebulizer treatment — requiring her mother to turn on their generator at night. They have enough diesel to power the generator for one more day.

    She has a half-tank of gas left and can’t set aside the entire day that would be necessary to wait in line for more because she has to care for her daughter and mother. It doesn’t help that driving to town for her job — which usually takes seven minutes — now takes more than a half-hour because of blocked or inaccessible roads.

    But Aldea remained calm. More than anything, she is thankful to be alive: “If I don’t stay strong, how can I take care of the two people who depend on me?”

    Aldea is brave and determined, but she can’t treat her mother’s ulcer or keep her insulin refrigerated, and she can’t give her daughter Darangellie her nebulizer treatment if her generator is out of fuel. She’s lucky because she has a job, but she won’t be able to get to it for long. How many people have jobs that don’t exist when there is no power? How many businesses can stay afloat when they have no power, can’t get deliveries or supplies, and have a banking system that is on its knees.

    Reply
  68. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 6:31 am

    Folks, I know that we got good news from Susan Collins yesterday.

    But..

    I.Do.Not.Trust.Rand.Paul.

    Keep those phone calls coming. And, make a call to Murkowski’s office. Tell them that you don’t trust Rand Paul and would be reassured if the Senator came out as a NO.

    Reply
  69. Nancie McDermott says:
    September 26, 2017 at 5:12 am

    Thank you 3Chicspolitico. You always get the story. Sharing widely.

    Reply
  70. rikyrah says:
    September 26, 2017 at 1:51 am

    Good Morning,Everyone 😐😐😐

    Reply

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