Wonderful article. We will all be Puerto Rico. None of us will be safe from climate change. As the former French PM said, we are the first generation to fully grasp the danger climate change and the last with the ability to do anything about it.
I don't know what the answer is but maybe we need a better balance like I don't know maybe less on defense and more on infrastructure. We can already destroy any enemy we have 16 times over and that's without nukes. But the hawks and Saber rattlers will say that's liberal talk and of coarse they don't want to give up the billions and billions of dollars we spend every year on defense, so maybe a small adjustment .
It is a step forward that President Biden stepped up relief. It is a sin what the last President did and I wish he could be formally charged or taken to court for the demeaning way he handled it. I do hope that Puerto Rico gets all the assistance they need to come back from this. My heart goes out to them. My thoughts are with them.
A basic step forward would be to provide parity in programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which provide chronic underfunding, while demanding a uniform standard of care.
My first thought when I saw our Puerto Rico friends were being hit again by a hurricane, was thank God Joe Biden is our president now and not the very cruel, racist, grifter, paper towel tossing con man, who some how held that position when the last hurricane hit.
Speaking of the crisis in Puerto Rico and its causes:
"And one more thing that I want to add is that, you know, the United States can be sending to Puerto Rico aid right now. But to really think about the long-term solutions in Puerto Rico, we have to address colonialism. And colonialism in Puerto Rico is right now embodied through the figure of the fiscal control board imposed by the United States Congress. And this fiscal control board has been the one responsible for cutting public funding and cutting a lot of sources to the people of Puerto Rico. The austerity put forward and the neoliberal project of the fiscal control board, that includes the privatization of the electrical grid and gives the contract to a company that really doesn’t know how to handle the electrical grid in Puerto Rico, it has created the crisis, because, really, the agencies, the government agencies of Puerto Rico, do not have the resources to deal with this as they could have done decades ago. The problem right now is that also the people of Puerto Rico, the agencies of Puerto Rico do not come with the resources. And the reason, the main reason why they don’t come with the resources, is that the U.S. Congress has put forward a fiscal control board that has imposed austerity measures in Puerto Rico, and that has eliminated a lot of funding for agencies to deal with this type of situation. So this problem is really tied to colonialism. And the resources that we don’t have are simply in order to pay an illegal debt to Wall Street bondholders."
Here at the Clinton Global Iniative with many from Puerto Rico . They have not recovered from the last hurricane ! This is a great tragedy . Please keep reporting so that we are all fully informed .
Sorry I meant RV Sales. Yes people who vote I wish were more involved and informed. People are tired of being Guinea pigs. Gen x has had their retirement just killed from 9/11, to the housing bubble, to two long wars, Chaney and Trump profiting off tax dollars. What is up with the corruption of Clarence Thomas he needs to go. Sadly those who don’t care, armchair politicians still get to vote. I ran for local office and have volunteered at every level and see politics different. Robert Riche has been right since he put out inequality for all. Everyone is upset cause we keep watching our savings go away, pensions almost gone and healthcare skyrocketing and many of us are not scared of some immigrants when we all are if we can give safe haven to people suffering and they can work service jobs why is it so hard to let people in. Canada is doing it and thriving.
The denial of global warming, (I am confident all who read this column are not deniers) can be compared to "boiling frog syndrome. "The boiling frog is an apologue describing a frog being slowly boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is put in tepid water which is then brought to a boil slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death." —Wikipedia
I am also thinking of other forgotten Americans on the Northwest Coast of Alaska who were hit with Typhoon Merbok yesterday. Their villages are washed away along with their traditional fish and hunting camps. The governor of Alaska has not declared a federal disaster, there are no roads to these villages, and the village airports are under water. Remember their names... Hooper Bay...Elim...Newtok...Golovin...
I agree
Dan Rather please give us your thoughts on “Statehood Now for Puerto Rico and District of Columbia ❗️“
Wonderful article. We will all be Puerto Rico. None of us will be safe from climate change. As the former French PM said, we are the first generation to fully grasp the danger climate change and the last with the ability to do anything about it.
I believe that all people, countries do their best in helping one another. This is human decency, compassion.
Send the National Guard down there and get that place up and running now.
arrest the crooks that took any funds that were stolen.
The army corps of engineers better build some stronger bridges everywhere,
because things might just get worse in the next few years.
Get these people some representation so they can vote.
I don't know what the answer is but maybe we need a better balance like I don't know maybe less on defense and more on infrastructure. We can already destroy any enemy we have 16 times over and that's without nukes. But the hawks and Saber rattlers will say that's liberal talk and of coarse they don't want to give up the billions and billions of dollars we spend every year on defense, so maybe a small adjustment .
It is a step forward that President Biden stepped up relief. It is a sin what the last President did and I wish he could be formally charged or taken to court for the demeaning way he handled it. I do hope that Puerto Rico gets all the assistance they need to come back from this. My heart goes out to them. My thoughts are with them.
A basic step forward would be to provide parity in programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which provide chronic underfunding, while demanding a uniform standard of care.
My first thought when I saw our Puerto Rico friends were being hit again by a hurricane, was thank God Joe Biden is our president now and not the very cruel, racist, grifter, paper towel tossing con man, who some how held that position when the last hurricane hit.
Speaking of the crisis in Puerto Rico and its causes:
"And one more thing that I want to add is that, you know, the United States can be sending to Puerto Rico aid right now. But to really think about the long-term solutions in Puerto Rico, we have to address colonialism. And colonialism in Puerto Rico is right now embodied through the figure of the fiscal control board imposed by the United States Congress. And this fiscal control board has been the one responsible for cutting public funding and cutting a lot of sources to the people of Puerto Rico. The austerity put forward and the neoliberal project of the fiscal control board, that includes the privatization of the electrical grid and gives the contract to a company that really doesn’t know how to handle the electrical grid in Puerto Rico, it has created the crisis, because, really, the agencies, the government agencies of Puerto Rico, do not have the resources to deal with this as they could have done decades ago. The problem right now is that also the people of Puerto Rico, the agencies of Puerto Rico do not come with the resources. And the reason, the main reason why they don’t come with the resources, is that the U.S. Congress has put forward a fiscal control board that has imposed austerity measures in Puerto Rico, and that has eliminated a lot of funding for agencies to deal with this type of situation. So this problem is really tied to colonialism. And the resources that we don’t have are simply in order to pay an illegal debt to Wall Street bondholders."
https://www.democracynow.org/2022/9/19/hurricane_fiona_hits_power_puerto_rico
Thank you for keeping us mindful of our responsibilities to each other and our earth. Your words are somber without being depressing.
Here at the Clinton Global Iniative with many from Puerto Rico . They have not recovered from the last hurricane ! This is a great tragedy . Please keep reporting so that we are all fully informed .
Great commentary Mr. Rather, thank you for your perspective.
Sorry I meant RV Sales. Yes people who vote I wish were more involved and informed. People are tired of being Guinea pigs. Gen x has had their retirement just killed from 9/11, to the housing bubble, to two long wars, Chaney and Trump profiting off tax dollars. What is up with the corruption of Clarence Thomas he needs to go. Sadly those who don’t care, armchair politicians still get to vote. I ran for local office and have volunteered at every level and see politics different. Robert Riche has been right since he put out inequality for all. Everyone is upset cause we keep watching our savings go away, pensions almost gone and healthcare skyrocketing and many of us are not scared of some immigrants when we all are if we can give safe haven to people suffering and they can work service jobs why is it so hard to let people in. Canada is doing it and thriving.
The denial of global warming, (I am confident all who read this column are not deniers) can be compared to "boiling frog syndrome. "The boiling frog is an apologue describing a frog being slowly boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is put in tepid water which is then brought to a boil slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death." —Wikipedia
I am also thinking of other forgotten Americans on the Northwest Coast of Alaska who were hit with Typhoon Merbok yesterday. Their villages are washed away along with their traditional fish and hunting camps. The governor of Alaska has not declared a federal disaster, there are no roads to these villages, and the village airports are under water. Remember their names... Hooper Bay...Elim...Newtok...Golovin...
Winter is coming.