Emergency Manager Resigns in Puerto Rico; Army Ends Its Mission.

[elleng]

*Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan arrived in Puerto Rico about a week after Hurricane Maria pummeled the island, in the midst of fierce criticism of the federal response. He quickly acknowledged that not enough federal troops were on the island and vowed to do more to help Puerto Rico.

On Friday, he said the federal government had distributed 51 million gallons of water and 20 million meals and had tended to 5,000 sick residents.

He said that the military’s missions, primarily clearing roads, attending to medical emergencies and helping restore communications, were complete. Other agencies, like the National Guard and Federal Emergency Management Agency, would continue the work. Some military officials would remain on the island to wind down operations.

“FEMA is going to be here, very much for the long term and the rebuilding,” General Buchanan said. “We in the military generally don’t do that.” . .

Shortly afterward, the government announced that Abner Gómez, the commissioner of the Puerto Rico Emergency Management Agency, had resigned.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/us/puerto-rico-emergency-manager.html?

[democratisphere]

1. That's IT?!?

[FarCenter]

2. Puerto Rico Disaster Chief Resigns Throwing Island Recovery Into Further Turmoil

Puerto Rican media recently revealed that Abner Gómez had taken a two-week vacation last month. That angered many people because Gómez heads the island’s Emergency and Disaster Management Agency, known as AEMEAD – and Puerto Rico was demolished by Hurricane Maria less than two months ago.

http://wlrn.org/post/puerto-rico-disaster-chief-resigns-throwing-island-recovery-further-turmoil

[struggle4progress]

3. Puerto Ricans still can't access programs that fed millions in Texas and Florida

CAITLIN DEWEY
The Washington Post

Thousands of Puerto Ricans struggled to feed themselves in the wake of Hurricane Maria, skipping meals and waiting hours in line for federal shipments of canned goods.

But a package of federal programs that could have helped feed thousands - and that channeled hundreds of dollars to needy families in Texas and Florida after hurricanes Harvey and Irma - have not been deployed in Puerto Rico, limiting the reach of the island’s emergency food assistance.

Among other things, the government did not issue emergency food stamps to people who lost their homes in the storm and who do not usually receive benefits, a measure that was taken in both Florida and Texas.

And additional food stamps were not issued to families who already receive them, a routine step that the Department of Agriculture takes after natural disasters ...

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/nation/2017/11/07/Seven-weeks-after-Hurricane-Maria-Puerto-Ricans-still-can-t-access-programs-that-fed-millions-in-Texas-and-Florida/stories/201711070281

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. Gonna be a hell of a lot of lawsuits.....

and the 100,000 plus people moving from Puerto Rico to SE states are gonna be happy to vote, they should be eligible by 2018.

[struggle4progress]

4. We need to reevaluate Puerto Rico's territory status

BY ANDRÉS L. CÓRDOVA, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 11/07/17 12:20 PM EST

The judicial doctrine of non-incorporation was — and is — based on the suspicious assumption that Puerto Ricans are foreigners and that the acquisition of the territory did not imply that it was on the road to future statehood or that all constitutional rights were applicable to the citizenry.

At the time, the public debate was phrased as a question on whether the Constitution followed the flag. We should not lose sight of the fact that the doctrine of non-incorporated territories is of judicial progeny. A textual reading of Article IV, Section 3, of the Constitution brings into question the historical context of such a racially and ethnically charged distinction made at the turn of the 20th century by the 1895 Plessy v. Ferguson decision.

It is worth recalling that in American territorial history, from the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 to the annexation of Hawaii in 1898, all territories have been deemed to be on the path to eventual statehood, some taking longer than others ...

The political, economic and social crisis we are living today in Puerto Rico, magnified by the passing of hurricane María this past September, is precisely the unravelling of the territorial model created by Congress in the 1950's ...

http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/359109-we-need-to-reevaluate-puerto-ricos-territory-status-as-we-rebuild

[elleng]

5. Good one.

Thanks.

[Eliot Rosewater]

6. What part of these are brown people dont we get yet ?

What part of Trump and Republicans hate brown people don’t we get yet ?m