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What the holy fucking shit

Leaked portion of Whitefish Energy “emergency contract,” provided to my CBS News colleague, Julianna Goldman, states that "In no event shall PREPA, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the FEMA administrator, the Comptroller of the United States, or any of their authorized representatives have the right to audit or review the cost and profit elements of the labor rates specified herein."

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Whitefish Energy scored a 300 million dollar contract to rebuild the power grid in Puerto Rico.

https://twitter.com/DavidBegnaud

They are literally ensuring that the island stays inhospitable until all of the residents leave.

Why buy an island when you can just exploit a fucking tragedy?

Fucking Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck

Directly from my brother:

"Things are NOT okay here. Yes, San Juan is fine, and mostly getting back to 'normal.' But for hundreds of thousands, maybe millions—we still don’t know, is the fucked up part—things are definitively not okay.

I heard a firsthand account tonight, of mothers feeding babies sugar water for lack of formula. That water is assuredly not safe to drink.

Of tiny communities, as small as 15 houses on a stretch of road, elderly folk who don’t have the mobility to get to town, assuming aid has reached the town. Which in some cases, it still hasn’t.

Don’t trust anyone, especially our pig fucking president, when he or she says recovery efforts are a '10.'

10 out of what? A million?

Okay, maybe, yeah.

And I say this with no disrespect to our service members and volunteers on the ground, doing all the can.

Thank you. Sincerely.

But things are not okay."

https://weather.com/amp/news/news/2017-10-26-puerto-rico-day-36-largest-blackout-united-states-history.html

Nurses returning from Puerto Rico accuse the federal government of leaving people to die

The nurses described doctors performing surgery in hospitals with light from their cellphones, children screaming from hunger, elderly residents suffering from severe dehydration, and black mold spreading throughout entire communities.

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Part of the problem is how FEMA requires Puerto Ricans to apply for disaster aid. Lynch said FEMA workers were asking residents to give them copies of utility bills and bank routing numbers. Then the agency promised to follow up via email or text. But most people don't have electricity or phone service, and their homes and documents may be destroyed.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/26/16553748/puerto-rico-nurses-fema

Desde España, mi apoyo y mis mejores deseos para nuestros hermanos de Puerto Rico, quienes, por cierto, comparten más lazos todavía con su antigua patria que con unos EE.UU. que no hacen todo lo que pueden por ganarse el cariño y ayudar al pueblo puertorriqueño. Siento no poder ayudar económicamente, pero bueno, desde aquí ya se han enviado ayudas como víveres y medicinas, que, al fin y al cabo, pagamos gustosamente con nuestros impuestos. Todos deberíamos poner nuestro grano de arena.

Thanks for the reminder! Donated another $5. I hope the situation gets better asap.

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No thanks

Is Red Cross over there? I didn't see it on the list.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/unseen-aftermath-hurricane-maria-heart-puerto-rico-gallery-1.3594028

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/27/us/puerto-rico-uncounted-deaths-isabel-rivera-invs/index.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/29/nyregion/on-the-mainland-a-duty-to-help-puerto-rico.html

“It is a crime against humanity,” she said. “As a people, we have to stand up for humankind. This country, a colonial power, is not standing up. We don’t know how many people are dying. Tell me the most advanced country in the world can’t get helicopters, generators and water filtration there in a matter of weeks. We need to develop a massive response to the lack of response by the government to its citizens. It's colonial citizens.”

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/10/24/opinion/puerto-rico-hurricane-resilience.html

Puerto Rico was hit by natural disaster on top of fiscal disaster on top of our secular disaster of being neither fish nor fowl: voteless United States citizens, most of whom pay no federal income tax; political and fiscal oddities. Second-class citizens with a second-class disaster. At best, we’re seen as American citizens but not as Americans. Which, truth be told, doesn’t make me lose any sleep; what I am is Puerto Rican. In any case, as a territory, and for better or for worse, the Constitution places Puerto Rico under the responsibility of Congress. Maybe invading us in 1898 wasn’t such a great idea.

Puerto Ricans Without Power For Month Can Only Assume This Leading Story Across National News Media

https://www.theonion.com/puerto-ricans-without-power-for-month-can-only-assume-t-1819877413

up with this 🌈🌈🌈

Puerto Rico pays taxes. The US is obligated to help it just as much as Texas and Florida.

https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/policy-and-politics/2017/10/4/16385658/puerto-rico-taxes-hurricane

The Stafford Act, which governs federal response to major disasters, says the government must provide help to Puerto Rico like it would to any other state. It doesn’t say that help should be based on the state’s financial health. If it did, that would mean the government should give less help to Illinois after a disaster because the state is nearly bankrupt.

This article, in particular, really speaks to my frustration. Financial/tax arguments are absolute and total BULLSHIT.

I'm counting on it.

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bump!

U.S. Emergency Response Efforts in Puerto Rico Aren't Good Enough, U.N. Experts Say - http://time.com/5003470/united-nations-puerto-rico-hurricane-response/

More than 900 people in Puerto Rico have died after the tropical storm (and no one is talking about it) - http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-died-people-killed-island-us-territory-power-shortages-energy-a8027886.html

Electricity Won’t be possible for December, says US Corps of Engineers - http://www.prinforma.com/archives/369

This video here is a damage assessment flyover. If you've ever been to PR before, brace yourself.

Electricity is something you don’t notice until it’s gone. On the mainland, where power outages are rare and brief, Americans are used to simply flipping a switch and watching the light come on, plugging in an air conditioner and feeling the cold air, and trusting that your refrigerator will keep fresh food and milk from going bad. -- When the power goes out, that sense of comfort quickly disappears. The parts of daily life that were once taken for granted are suddenly gone, with no clear sense of when they’ll be back. To not have power — to be literally and figuratively in the dark — is to leave the modern world and retreat into an older and more precarious one. In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, that’s Puerto Rico’s new normal.

https://www.vox.com/2017/10/23/16501164/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-power-water-sewage-trump

Just as the hurricanes did then, this storm exposed the dividing lines between well-off Puerto Ricans and those in need. In the San Juan metro area, cafes, bars and restaurants are running at half-speed with diesel generators. Just an hour’s drive into the countryside, communities are cut off from sustainable supplies of food, water and medication.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/04/opinion/sunday/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria.html

That two-thirds figure is a bit misleading—it actually overstates how many people have power. The government figures are in terms of megawatts delivered now, compared to how many megawatts they were delivering before it started. A lot of big pieces of critical infrastructure like the airport, hospitals, and things like that have been repowered, and those tend to be pretty power hungry. What’s not represented in that number are most residents and most businesses. The great majority of businesses and residences in Puerto Rico still don’t have power.

http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/post-apocalyptic-puerto-rico

Officials from the government and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) don't even know how many people have power for lights, air conditioners, refrigerators and other basic necessities.

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/11/03/us/puerto-rico-power-investigation-santiago/index.html

Robles is one of 100,000 Puerto Ricans who have left the island in the aftermath of hurricane Maria, according to official estimates disclosed at a congressional hearing on Tuesday. That’s equivalent to around 1,800 residents a day since the storm hit the island on Sept. 20, and more than the total number of Puerto Ricans who flew out in all of 2015 (link in Spanish,) the latest year for which data is available.

https://qz.com/1122679/puerto-rico-news-100000-have-left-the-island-after-hurricane-maria/

http://variety.com/2017/legit/news/hamilton-lin-manuel-miranda-puerto-rico-1202609954/

Full Committee Oversight Hearing "Examining Challenges in Puerto Rico's Recovery and the Role of the Financial Oversight and Management Board" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHiLx4e20JA

And now for something completely different...

Well, not really. But, I thought it would be a good time to look away from the disaster and recovery efforts to highlight the reasons why Puerto Rico is worth saving and what a magical place it is.

“It has been six weeks since the hurricane, and 70 percent of Puerto Rico’s 3.4 million American citizens are still without power. About 25 percent are without fresh drinking water—people are drinking from streams and other contaminated sources. They are burning their dead. This is, of course, unthinkable. And grotesque. It is also true.

But things on these lovely islands filled with great food, incredible music, wonderful people who’ve given so much to their country—served its military, been such a vital part of our collective culture—were already tragically absurd. A state of financial limbo, political paralysis, and powerlessness that defies both decency and belief. A Kafkaesque situation that was already bleeding them out.

We visited Puerto Rico with our cameras in April, five months before Maria. We, of course, found the beautiful place we expected: turquoise and gin clear seas, bright greens, colorful and delicious things to eat, a painful history—and a complicated and ambivalent relationship with the rest of a nation who once took them by force, and has held onto them since.

How American is Puerto Rico? How American do they want to be?

And how does the rest of America feel about Puerto Rico? How much responsibility are we willing to take for their aspirations, their well-being, their basic rights as humans, as citizens? The answer to that last question appears to be: not much.

I ask these questions again and again of Puerto Ricans who have stayed and fought and persisted. Who have tried to build up, or at least hold on, to the basic things and services, the very land in the place of their birth. Teachers; doctors; ordinary people who are proud of the work they do, in spite of the fact that their resources, their funding, even their pensions seem to be draining inexorably and hopelessly away.

And this was before the catastrophe.

I hope people watch this episode and get a sense of who we are talking about when we talk about Puerto Rico—and what they have lost.”

https://explorepartsunknown.com/puerto-rico/bourdains-field-notes-puerto-rico/

Another great story and video highlighting what makes Puerto Rico and its people beautiful - https://www.redbull.tv/video/AP-1SUGXSNXH2111/bomba-beach

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/03/travel/puerto-rico-virgin-islands-hurricane-maria-irma-volunteer-tourism.html

Extra:

via my brother - "This non-profit group regularly monitors the water quality of our beaches and lagoons, which has been suspect because of unregulated drainage after Maria. OP (Ocean Park) passed the test last week, but they continue to do regular testing. Next one is scheduled for tomorrow. Donate if you’d like!" - http://www.estuario.org/

god fucking DAMMIT

http://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/politica/nota/apruebanimponerarancelde20aimportacionesdesdepuertorico-2373068/

bump with trash

View attached image.

Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis set the conditions for the degree of destruction Maria wrought. Much has been written about the vulture funds’ grip on the island’s economy, the billions owed in a national debt that decision-makers in Washington, D.C. have refused to audit, the unelected fiscal control board set up in the capital to extract money owed to Wall Street interests. That’s not to mention the austerity measures: the proposed cuts to the minimum wage and pension funds, the closing of schools, the neglected infrastructure. This neoliberal nightmare scenario meant the infrastructure and disaster preparedness necessary to mitigate a disaster like Maria were completely neglected.

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Beyond recovery efforts, how do we think about this situation in ways that are not only theoretically relevant, but that allow the residents of Puerto Rico to develop a more secure, just, and equitable future? In short, how do we decolonize the Caribbean?

http://www.80grados.net/decolonize-the-caribbean/