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UPDATE October 4: The two Puerto Ricos: In downtown San Juan Starbucks is booming and even the strip club is back. But just 15 miles away there will be no power until FEBRUARY and there are still queues for food aid
Hurricane-scarred Puerto Rico has become a tale of two islands - with malls, restaurants cinemas and even a stirp club reopening in the capital while the starving poor huddle in darkness just a few miles away. The city's trendy Plaza Las Américas mall is once again a hive of activity, with residents flocking to Cheesecake Factory, Mr Pretzels and Starbucks to sip espresso and stream TV on high speed WiFi. Travel beyond the city limits however and the semblance of normality quickly fades to desperation and misery. The disparity is shockingly evident in Loiza, a coastal city to the east of San Juan and one of the island's most impoverished communities.
An Alliance Made in Heaven: The leftist mayor of San Juan and CNN - The mayor blames the Federal Government - that is, TRUMP - for failure to distribute aid already on the island! - Trump responded that the mayor wanted the government to do everything for them.
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Houston, Texas: Volunteer men organized a flotilla to save thousands of people stranded by hurricane floods.
Puerto Rico: Truck drivers go on strike demanding higher pay and refuse to distribute life-saving supplies to starving victims of hurricane. Self-organizing relief efforts almost non-existent.
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Puerto Rico is a textbook case of what can happen when an area is so ravaged by disaster that there is not even the most basic infrastructure to distribute help to those who need it. Seaports and airports mostly destroyed, roads covered in debris, and cellphone communication impossible.
And as people run out of food, water, and fuel, and hospitals are barely function or not at all due to the lack of fuel to run generators, THOUSANDS of containers full of supplies have been sitting on the docks since the hurricane because unionized drivers on strike refuse to transport them.
Why are thousands of containers still sitting there? Because Puerto Rican drivers are on strike.
As the infrastructure is getting patched up a dirty little secret the mainstream media won't tell you is that Puerto Rico unionized drivers are demanding higher pay and on strike since before Hurricane Maria struck the island. Now they expect to profit from a desperate situation. The governor issued a public plea asking them to deliver aid sitting in the docks, but there was no response.
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| Gas stations selling fuel are being looted. |
Police too are conspicuous by their absence. With numerous bands of looters roaming the island, it is dangerous to drive any sort of vehicle full of goods without police or military protection.
Gas stations that had been provisioned are being looted by criminals.
In the meantime the left-wing mayor of San Juan has been ranting hysterically on CNN and blaming the federal government for Puerto Ricans starving and dying.
VIDEO - Dishonest media call Hurricane Maria "Trump's Katrina"
More Rebel Media Videos
MEDIA and Democrats WEAPONIZED Puerto Rico's tragedy against TRUMP
The mainstream media, particularly CNN, along with Democrat politicians, have WEAPONIZED the Puerto Rican disaster. They tried to do the same thing in Texas and Florida, but they failed due to effective Federal response to the disasters.
So the media are using Puerto Rico. They did this by hiding the sad truth about this island: it is culturally different from the mainland, and so thousands of containers with food, water, and life-saving medicine are still sitting at the docks, because Puerto Rican drivers are on strike, and able bodied men have failed to organize themselves.
Police have disappeared. Looters have been busy operating since the hurricane moved on. Now the local government has resorted to a few National Guard to keep order.
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| A few National Guard patrol the streets |
Police have disappeared. Looters have been busy operating since the hurricane moved on. Now the local government has resorted to a few National Guard to keep order.
That is the reality. Lack of distribution is not Trump's fault, or alleged racism, or neglect. The Federal government has done enough, but it cannot do everything.
VIDEO - The Ugly Truth About Puerto Rico Wanting U.S. Statehood - By Stefan Molyneux
More Videos by Stefan Molyneux
Puerto Rico was a dysfunctional society long before it was hit by hurricanes.
- Island political leaders have been demanding USA statehood;
- No call for independence because that would entail taking responsibility for their debts and other shortcomings.
- They want statehood not because they love the USA, but to obtain bankruptcy protection.
- Puerto Rico has $49 BILLION in pension liabilities on top of other debts to a grand total of $129 BILLION.
- It receives over $20 BILLION in aid a year.
- Its domestic product is $100 billion.
- Half of the Puerto Rican population is on public assistance.
- Those holding jobs work mostly for the government.
- The unemployment rate is 14%.
- There are ONE THOUSAND murders a year.
- Many of those murders are related to the growing illicit drug trade.
- Organized crime corrupts the political system at all levels.
- Puerto Rico is tops in public corruption cases.
- School tests score show students performing below basics in math and reading.
- The average state of health is poor, with too many suffering from diabetes and assorted disabilities.
- One in three Puerto Ricans claim some kind of disability
- However there is a high level of fraud in disability diagnosis because of corruption in the medical system.
- Lack of English language skills qualifies as a disability in Puerto Rico.
Continue reading this and other related articles, and see references - More UPDATES being added