DC Heroes Help Reconstruct #PuertoRico in Ricanstruction | https://t.co/7gNyf60IN7 pic.twitter.com/oc0WtnBpMf
— BookShelf Staff (@DiaBookshelf) April 17, 2018
(Interview with the editor at the link.)
I will be returning to #PuertoRico in 12 days. All proceeds from my new book, #Mars 3D, will be used to purchase food and water for hurricane victims in #PuertoRico. Please support our effort and purchase an autographed copy of my book on Amazon: https://t.co/Ydehxj6kLm pic.twitter.com/OoDMK4EjQj
— Antonio Paris (@AntonioParis) April 21, 2018
Puerto Rico Restores Electricity After This Week's Power Outage https://t.co/tun3DiRn5J
— NPR (@NPR) April 20, 2018
Electricity has been restored in Puerto Rico following an outage on Wednesday that left the island in darkness. It was the first island-wide blackout since Hurricane Maria swept through the U.S. territory in September.
A transmission line was accidentally damaged by an excavator, reported The Associated Press…
By Thursday afternoon, the energy provider tweeted that service had been restored to 97 percent of its customers — the same level as before Wednesday’s blackout. Some 40,000 people still lack regular electricity seven months after Hurricane Maria, according to the AP.Following the outage, Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló called for the cancellation of a contract with D. Grimm, the subcontracting company responsible for the accident, reported El Nuevo Día.…
All of Puerto Rico could have its energy restored by late May, according to an AP report citing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps announced in early April that it would provide additional resources to expand power restoration efforts in Puerto Rico, increasing an existing contract by $140.5 million, to $510.6 million…
Hurrican season, incidentally, starts June 1st!
"We know how to live without power," one resident said. "Before, we panicked." A freak accident on Wednesday plunged Puerto Rico back into darkness: https://t.co/iUHZfXFn2U
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 20, 2018
… Living under the specter of a delicate power grid has forced many to adapt. Residents have sunk thousands of dollars into buying and fueling generators. But the situation has also forced subtler changes to everyday routines.
Ms. Ortiz, who makes a living caring for the elderly and children, no longer stocks her refrigerator or pantry with much food beyond the emergency hurricane supply. She buys only a few days’ worth of, for example, meat at time…
Many Puerto Ricans have left the island completely, including one of Ms. Ortiz’s clients, an older woman whose family moved her to the mainland. That meant Ortiz’s work schedule dropped to two days a week from six…
A few blocks away, Jorge Piris, 70, the owner of Nueva Vida Car Care, was busy catching up on work because of a backlog created, in part, by Wednesday’s blackout. Nine cars in his shop needed work, and he was late for an appointment with an accountant…
The power went out at Piris’s shop around 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday while he was under the hood of a car. He quickly unplugged expensive equipment in his shop, such as a computer and air compressor, to prevent any damage. By the time the power was restored, his three employees were getting off work. A day was lost.
Then he pointed to the cars jammed into the two-garage shop, which needs $14,000 worth of repairs — part of the roof and a back wall are missing.
“Look at all that we’ve got to do,” Mr. Piris said.
The generator he used during the four months he was without power after Hurricane Maria was simply too expensive to use. Asked how much business he lost in that span, Piris estimated over 50 percent. “Easily,” he said…
It's been 7 months since Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico. Today, the relief effort continues, and #UnitedForPuertoRico is asking for your help. pic.twitter.com/FF6a3JvL58
— MacGyver (@MacGyverCBS) April 21, 2018
satby
I’m still waiting for Habitat for Humanity to start setting up build teams, I signed up right after the hurricane. I think a lot of the delay is due to the constant infrastructure problems. But I wish they’d get on it and realize most of their volunteers are ready to go, power or not.
Lapassionara
What an injustice! Thanks for posting this.
Good morning, everyone.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone ???
rikyrah
I will continue to say this;
They are trying to kill these American Citizens ??
rikyrah
Could you imagine if this had happened during 44’s term?
Would have been wall to wall coverage.
Covering up for the pure malice and incompetence of this Administration.
The curve for Unqualified White Men is REAL ?
Anne Laurie
@rikyrah:
Not “deliberately”, they’d claim, but I have to agree with you.
Saving links for another post later this week — our fellow citizens from Puerto Rico are aware of this, and both those who’ve stayed on the island and those who’ve been forced into exile here in the mainland are plotting how best to make the Repubs pay.
Cermet
Not at all surprised – not a State=no rep’s and no power: in both the literal and figurative sense. Puerto Rican’s need to get on to Statehood and pass it ASAP with an over whelming majority. Then they will get a lot more aid and assistance. This half way statehood is really worthless; tax breaks now work against them – being an island means that everything is far more costly – especially food and fuel so independence would be an unmitigated disaster. They need to organize now and get out the vote and then have some real political power! That is the key to their long term best interest
NorthLeft12
This might be old news, but Best President Obama once again hits the nail on the head about the Parkland teens and the youth supporting them;
The bolded part of that is what really struck home. I hope all politicians, media pundits, and hell, all adults take that snip to heart.
rikyrah
GM to layoff 1500 in Ohio. Sherrod Brown wants answers after the windfall GM got from the GOP tax scam
https://twitter.com/SenSherrodBrown/status/986253833264418817?s=19
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Major Major Major Major
Maybe instead of superheroes we could send the federal government to help!
Superheroes are more realistic of course.
p.a.
I’ve come to see calling them Banana Republicans may actually be a smear on banana republics.
Baud
@satby: People like you are why there won’t be any spots in heaven for people like me.
WereBear
Nothing like making things freakin’ obvious to wake the sleepers. The Puerto Rico neglect is one of these.
Bruuuuce
About a month old, but relevant:
.
Many athletes and clubs have already donated (and, with so many having roots there, it’s no surprise.) As much as they give, however, it’s not nearly the sort of resources the federal government could have, and should have brought to bear. The crooks in the White House and Congress are killing their own citizens and pocketing the change.
Immanentize
@Baud: I don’t think Heaven works that way….
Immanentize
@satby: I didn’t know that was a thing! I am looking for a great trip for the Immp and me this summer. We were signed up to go to Cuba but that trip was cancelled for lack of interest. Do I just call Jimmy Carter, or what, for the Habitat teams??
Gvg
I would not be surprised if some were bitter over their treatment but I see no solution but statehood. This no vote situation is powerless. It’s also left them mute on the national scene for too many years. A lot of the rest of the US has actually never really noticed them.
I suspect that one issue is language. Another right now is the rise of open racism. A territory has to get other states to vote them in.
I also wonder about our other territories. US Virgin Islands etc. very small populations.
Kay
I agree with this but it doesn’t fit with “Trump will pardon them if they stand up”. He’ll have more contempt for them if they stand up, not less. Trump doesn’t give a shit what happens to Cohen’s family. He’ll consider it a win if he tricks Cohen into taking a prison sentence instead of a deal and then he’ll abandon him. There’s not going to be any gratitude. Cohen should do what the Trumps would do- take care of his own family. All this bullshit about Trump’s “loyalty” is just that- bullshit. They’re not actually like the Mafia as the Mafia is portrayed in movies. They’re just ordinary, run of the mill assholes. The game is who comes out on top, not “win/win”.
Another Scott
‘morning all.
Thanks for the Mars book pointer. It’s an easy purchase especially since it’s also for a good cause.
Cheers,
Scott.
Immanentize
@Gvg: I have wondered why the new State couldn’t be “Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.”. A type of island eco-state. Maybe a bit more spread out than Hawaii? But I’m not even sure that’s true. The problem is, in part, that those islands really have no industry outside tourism. Yes, PR has some industries, including drug manufacturing. But the economies are shrinking, not growing.
debbie
@rikyrah:
I must say, the speed with which the demonstrable failures of Trump’s tax cuts have become evident is amazing. It took longer for Reagan’s tax cuts to do damage.
Immanentize
@Kay: I agree that Trump demands loyalty but shows none. In fact, I am counting on that as Mueller’s team works to flip Cohen. They know it. And they know Cohen knows it.
Even the Libby pardon was sour to Trump — “i don’t know Libby, but I’m told he is s good guy.” WTF? That was clearly someone else’s idea and did not impact Trump in any way. Someone close to him flipping? I think that will piss him off more than it will suggest to him dangers and the need to be generous.
debbie
@Kay:
Of course not. He’s “negotiating” (read “tricking”) them. He has no intention of pardoning anyone other than himself, and he never has intended to pardon anyone. This is just one way to shut people up.
Immanentize
@debbie: Krugman’s op ed in the NYTimes yesterday was on this very topic; but Trump cuts versus Bush II cuts.
Argiope
@Immanentize: Best meet-up ever: jackals build!
debbie
He’s already at it.
I wonder who the drunk/drugged up loser is.
Kay
@debbie:
It’s kind of amazing though- if it pans out that it’s a flop politically it means tax cuts aren’t the magical vote-getter they used to be. That solves a huge political problem for Democrats. The teacher strikes are really about tax cuts. They cut taxes and the voodoo incantations didn’t work and they didn’t increase revenue so they cut education. It finally, finally got thru to people that they have to pay for things they want, like good schools.
Without cutting taxes what do Republicans have to run on? “LImited government”? No one really gives a shit about that, least of all Republicans. That leaves them with racism, basically.
NotMax
Wotta kid. Quote for the record.
First-grader channels her civil rights heroes as only one to walk out of class in protest
debbie
@Immanentize:
Thanks, just read it. They don’t make snake oil like they used to. Sad!
Another Scott
On the news, I’m not really surprised that Kim is saying that he’ll stop testing nuclear weapons (and stop missile tests), saying that they’ve done all the testing they need. I was wondering what he was going to do after (not-fully-collaborated) reports of tunnel collapse and other damage, and hundreds of deaths, at the main DPRK test site. IOW, he’s smart to try to take maximum political advantage of his (potential) inability to perform nuclear tests now (at least not without heroic efforts at the test site).
I’m generally in the “jaw-jaw is better than war-war” school of thought, and I think it’s long-past time that we talk with Kim and try to officially end the Korean War. But, in spite of the false starts under Clinton and Bush, it’s clear that Kim and the USA weren’t interested in doing so until the Kims felt they were on a more-equal footing. So, in a way, and unfortunately, it took the DPRK having a demonstrated nuclear deterrent for it to happen.
I don’t think that it will be at all easy for a lasting and verifiable agreement to be created under Donnie. And there is a risk that Donnie will be bamboozled and give away the store so that he can sign something in his mania to somehow prove that he’s a Great Leader.
It’ll be interesting to see what Cheryl, and Adam, and all the rest of you jackals, have to say about it.
Cheers,
Scott.
Kay
@Immanentize:
I don’t know that Cohen knows it. Cohen is part of the Trump sickness. He plays an active role. I don’t think people inside a dynamic like this see clearly, or at all. Cohen isn’t rich. He had to borrow to pay Trump’s hush money. Cohen hasn’t benefited from his relationship with the Trumps, and yet he stayed. The people inside the sick dynamic don’t see it. They’re incapable of seeing it, because they’re part of it. There can’t be people like Trump without people like Cohen. You need both.
debbie
@debbie:
P.S. The best line was the last: “David Brooks is off today.”
rikyrah
Has anyone informed Senator Heidekamp that she has an out. She doesn’t have to vote for Pompeo. The liar about his military service .easy out.
debbie
@Kay:
Exactly. How long till taking a knee becomes an executable offense?
debbie
@rikyrah:
It will be, er, interesting to see who overlooks that little lie. Also those Christianist remarks he made back when he was in Congress.
JMG
A formal peace treaty ending the Korean War would be de facto recognition of the DPRK as a sovereign state. Same for the Republic of Korea. That’s why nobody wanted one in 1953. If South and North are ready to recognize each other, I don’t see how the US could do much but follow along.
Kay
@debbie:
Trump’s treatment of the NYTimes is an example of the same dynamic Josh Marshall identified. He has contempt for people who need him. Trump doesn’t hate media. He thinks he uses them effectively – he wins that game- he thinks they are “losers” because they allow him to use them. There’s only winners and losers in Trumpworld and Trump is the winner in that contest.
Manyakitty
@Immanentize: This might be fun: https://globalvolunteers.org/usa-montana/
Manyakitty
@debbie: Nunberg?
Kay
@debbie:
20 years ago though no one thought tax cuts would ever stop working as a political tactic. Racism could stop working too. A heavier lift for the public obviously- racism runs so deep– but recall that in 2004 Republicans won a national election on opposition to same sex marriage. 2004. People change their minds.
Immanentize
@debbie: George Nader, I think. But there are so many to choose from.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@debbie: roger stone?
Immanentize
@Manyakitty:
Thanks!
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
speaking of drugged out losers, Jared has been in hiding the last few months.
Immanentize
@Manyakitty: I said Nader, but I think you are right — Number. Stone said he was an addict. But then again, Kudlow is a known Coke head….
I just cannot believe this administration.
Another Scott
@Cermet: DC has the same problems, but even more-so. It would most likely take a constitutional amendment to fix the issues with DC’s representation (unless some sort of retrocession to Maryland could be finessed, and DC and Maryland both hate that idea so it’s probably a non-starter.
It’s been my opinion for a long time that DC is really a city and shouldn’t be a state, but the counter-argument is that it has a larger population than Wyoming or Vermont, etc., etc. DC has been a special district for a long time, with its own identity, so it probably should be a state.
There are lots of facilities in DC that have national import but don’t get attention because of the lack of representation in the national government. E.g. it took years for the turf on the National Mall to be addressed even though 33 million people use it every year. Similarly with leaks in the reflecting pools. And the problems at Walter Reed and more recently at the DC VA hospital. Etc., etc.
It’s long past time that we address the problem of too many Americans not having “Equal Justice Under Law”. DC, US territories, etc., seem to me to have a strong case that there are constitutional issues with the existing arrangements.
Cheers,
Scott.
Manyakitty
@Immanentize: You’re welcome! I’m always tempted by the idea of a service vacation. Hope you guys find the right spot and make a difference!
Immanentize
@Kay:
You are right, it takes a village to build a jerk like Trump. But in these cases, as you know, prosecutors often find family members (spouses, children) are extremely helpful in getting the deluded person to see reason. That is what finally got Gates, I’m sure. Cohen has a wife and family. Mobbed up, no doubt, but he does have a wife and kids.
ETA I am predicting nothing, but these are the situations in which stupid people try stupid things, like discussing hits against witnesses on tape.
Manyakitty
@Immanentize: Kakistocracy, indeed. Nader is the child molester, but I didn’t think he had a drug or alcohol problem.
Kay
Dana Goldstein
The “limits of austerity” turn out to be located exactly where it starts to affect huge groups of working and middle class people.
We found the line. It’s located where magical conservative accounting gimmicks crash into the reality of 50 million kids in public schools.
JMG
“The easiest guy in the world to bullshit is a bullshit artist” — Damon Runyon.
To me, that’s the essence of all Trump relationships. He’s an easy con due to his narcissism and almost total ignorance of the world outside its fairways, so he attracts grifters to his inner circle like Cohen or Flynn or Pruitt. He doesn’t get that calling names does not make the failing New York Times and Maggie Haberman feel like losers. They are getting way more out of their relationship than he is. The same will happen with Kim and North Korea. The foreign leaders’ book on handling Trump is no secret. Flatter him outrageously, make up some word salad you can persuade him is a “win,” then go home and do what you wanted anyway. It’s not like he’ll catch on.
debbie
@Kay:
OMG, he was on the local NYC news and on Page Six practically every day! That he hates media is his biggest lie, believe me! “The Donald”!
debbie
@Manyakitty:
I can’t keep everyone straight, but I was thinking he was just slurring on Comey. I’m sure I’m wrong, though.
JPL
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: In order to avoid following in his father’s footsteps, it would be hilarious if he already flipped. Unlikely but so much fun to imagine.
Gin & Tonic
@debbie:
The question really is why *she* puts up with this. Trump and Haberman talk every day – he knows it, she knows it, you and I and all of B-J know it. Why she tolerates this and doesn’t call bullshit will always remain a mystery to me.
Manyakitty
@debbie: Ugh, they’re such a bunch of losers there’s almost no way to tell!
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
He misspelled Haberman.
He might as well called her Wendy.
debbie
@Gin & Tonic:
Lack of integrity and love of a scoop.
debbie
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Did you see his typo last night about Wendy Wasserman Schultz? It was deleted but still…
Kay
@Immanentize:
He’s been in the sick dynamic so long. Decades. I’m generally pro-defendant so I hope he has a good lawyer who can talk some sense into him. He’s a fool if he relies on Trump. His duty is to his own family, not the Trump family. He probably has no self-respect left after 20 years in that relationship, but maybe you’re right- maybe he can be reached by appeals from family members who haven’t been engaged in this humiliation dance with a psycho for 20 years. Maybe they see. Kids see abusive relationships that go on between their parents much more clearly than the adults in the relationship do, so it’s possible.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Such panic from a person who insists he’s innocent.
Gin & Tonic
@rikyrah: Heitkamp is an idiot if she thinks she will swing a single R vote her way in N.D. by this vote. She’s giving it away for nothing.
boatboy_srq
Open Thread, so:
Interesting read from Benen over at Maddowblog on how FundiEvangelists are loving them some Thrice-Married Ethically-Challenged White Man so long as he sticks it to Those People the way they want. Something something 700 wives and 300 concubines going on there, methinks. (BTW the SBC chair stepping down over a “morally inappropriate relationship” makes an interesting counterpoint: their own leaders may have something resembling morals, but their hero can go without them and they Just. Do. Not. Care.)
JMG
@Gin & Tonic: There’s a Pulitzer on her mantelpiece today is why. Look, access journalism isn’t pretty and requires the reporter to do things that involve submerging their self-respect. That’s true if you’re covering the President or the town high school football coach (in many ways a tougher beat). But it’s a valid form of journalism. We’ve learned stuff about Trump we wouldn’t otherwise know because of Haberman’s ability to manipulate him.
Gin & Tonic
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Can’t spell “counsel” either.
Kay
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
I think the Trump misspelling of names is deliberate. They’re not important enough to get their names right. Like “special council”- it’s a classic- a childish, petty expression of disrespect. Trump is really small. Whatever the lowest road is, he takes it. He’s a garden variety asshole.
Kay
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
He should have Mueller fired then. I dare him. He has to fire and then replace some other people first so he should get going.
He should definitely try that.
SiubhanDuinne
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Also, he misspelled “Counsel.” Twice.
JMG
@Kay: He got elected because millions of Americans wanted a garden variety asshole to live out their fantasies of acting on their worst impulses without any fear of consequences. Most people do not act like Trump. Most of those are because they’re not assholes. But a not inconsiderable number want to but can’t. They’d get fired. They’d get punched out. So they sit in traffic, listen to hate talk radio, and dream.
RedDirtGirl
@debbie: What was it?
Amir Khalid
It kind of bothers me that comic-book artists draw male superheroes to look like athletes, but they still draw female superheroes to look like fashion models.
@Anne Laurie:
Trump has done a lot of things as President for which he deserves removal from office, but I think the most heinous is his refusal to come to the aid of Puerto Ricans.
Major Major Major Major
Sad my vacation is ending and I have to return to my shithole country tomorrow.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Gin & Tonic: everyone knows it’s spelled c-o-n-s-o-l-e.
Baud
@JMG: I agree. They are living the best reality TV of all.
MomSense
@NotMax:
I saw her photo yesterday in her NASA flightbsuit costume and my heart melted. I saw a photo this morning if another first grader who was the only one to walk out and she had such a fierce expression on her face. This generation of girl is not being raised to be pleasing to others. I’m in the amen corner for them.
Amir Khalid
Oh, poop. Looks like a draw for Liverpool at West Bromwich Albion.
MomSense
@Argiope:
Half of us will have to stay behind for the Jackals pet sit mission.
Immanentize
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: That’s where you put the 8 track tapes, right?
Frankensteinbeck
@rikyrah:
It would have been wall to wall coverage for Bush II. Katrina was. Then a black man was elected president, and the old white men who run national journalism realized that maybe the better dressed Nazis have a point.
@JMG:
This is so freaking on the nose.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Immanentize: My Edsel only has an AM crystal receiver set.
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid: So true on your first point. They’d do better with something like this (Olympic silver medalist in bobsled, and incidentally a friend of my daughter’s.)
Immanentize
@NotMax:
I meant to thank you yesterday. My son loved the Quest birthday viddy. I also sent it to my friend at work with the same b-day. She said it sounded just like her grandmother. She loved it too!
bemused
@Immanentize:
What is Quest birthday viddy?
MomSense
@Frankensteinbeck:
I thought George W definitively disproved white supremacy but trump came along and proved exactly how invested we are in it.
Immanentize
@bemused:
Quest B-Day wishes
So creepy!
Ramalama
@debbie: “David Brooks is filling in for Vice Principal at Downers Grove North High this week.” Fixed it.
different-church-lady
@debbie: David Brooks is off even on the days he writes his column.
NorthLeft12
@rikyrah: Yeah, as if any corporation would just keep people employed or pay them more just because they were suddenly flush with cash. They are not built that way.That’s not what they do.
Now if the employees were the ones responsible for that windfall, then maybe. I guess they could make the argument that because Ohio went Trump and Republican, they are responsible for that windfall. Okay, good luck with that.
Ramalama
I know this open thread is dedicated to Puerto Rico, but I wanted to offer this link to a Polish run news site (in English) that’s talking about Russia closing down parts of internet access to their own citizens. Anyone? Is this true?
Gin & Tonic
@Ramalama: Yes, it is true.
Currants
The good women at Hammerstone School are helping rebuild, too. Apologies if someone else has already so-commented.
Immanentize
@Currants: linky broken?
Another Scott
@Ramalama: Yup. As the story says, Vlad is upset with Telegram (an encrypted communications app) and is trying to block it, but in the process taking a chainsaw to lots of other IP addresses.
Android Police has another take on it.
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
Spanky
@NotMax: I blame the parents.
Elizabelle
@Currants: Problem with your link, I think. (Got to remove the http stuff in the link box before you paste.)
Here’s the Hammerstone/PRico link. They’ve completed their mission, but still have a GoFundMe page up, and are looking about for other funding.
ETA: Had never heard of that org.
Construction skillsCarpentry for women, based out of Trumansburg, NY. Great idea. (Apparently the Finger Lakes area; around Ithaca.)Immanentize
@Elizabelle: thanks for the fixed link — great story! Thanks, Currants.
ETA Heading to the nursery so I have something to say in tomorrow’s garden thread!
Barbara
@Immanentize: Re: Libby pardon — consider it to be John Bolton’s unfinished business from the Bush era. I’m sure he pushed Bush hard for the pardon.
debbie
@RedDirtGirl:
Wendy instead of Debbie.
O. Felix Culpa
@Ramalama:
Downers North? Son #2 went to Downers South. No one but the ex remains in DuPage County.
Cermet
@Another Scott: When you have constructed and tested an optimized hydrogen bomb and ICBM missile based on mature russian technology and parts, what exactly is there left to do except negotiate a sweet deal and give nothing of value in return? The bloody kim is in talks with a stupid moron fart cloud – exactly where and how could that mass murdering pus ball kim lose?
tobie
This is off topic but since we’re in an open thread, I wanted to say that I got my first order ever from Penzey’s today. I would never have heard of this company were it not for BJ, so thank you to all! In a similar vein, I would not have known about UnitedforPuertoRico.com, so I will turn there next.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Good morning, you get a Milky Way pic! I drove up into the local mountains, to the ol’ Boy Scout Camp Road(there’s a Boy Scout camp at the end I went to a few times in my lost youth). It was FREEZING up there! I don’t mean under 60, which is cold for my thin blood, it was literally freezing(28 degrees when I left).
Another Scott
@Cermet: He hasn’t gained anything yet, except for maybe a little status. His people are still starving, the DPRK is still under sanctions, etc.
The details of any agreement, and how it’s verified and enforced, and the consequences for breaking it, matter of course. I’m not at all sanguine about Donnie’s ability to get the details right.
But talking in and of itself has no downside that I can see (in this particular case, given the history with the DPRK). I’m not sure that our historical position – the US is too important to talk to monsters unless we get what we want before we even start talking – has served us that well…
Cheers,
Scott.
bemused
@Immanentize:
Thx. I’m totally clueless on gaming but it is creepy.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Another Scott: I’d like to see three new states, to get the US completely out of the territory business:
1. Puerto Rico & Virgin Islands (pop. ~ 3.5 million)
2. Columbia (formerly Washington DC, pop. ~ 700K)
3. United Pacific Islands (pop. ~ 250K, including Guam, American Samoa, and Northern Mariana Islands)
The Americans living in these “insular area” territories should have the full rights and privileges of Statehood, including representation in Congress and to vote for President.
Ramalama
@O. Felix Culpa: I grew up in the near environs and….family friend was involved with one of the Downers (Vice Principal, Principal, School Counselor, Superintendent? who knows) and he had a certain weird Panache that sometimes makes me think that David Brooks is aiming for but could only dream about having. Because Brooks sucks. Sucks Donkey.
O. Felix Culpa
@Ramalama: Yes he does. It drives me crazy that some of my dearest friends, kind and otherwise intelligent people, still think Brooks says anything of meaning.
Ramalama
@Another Scott: Thanks for the link. I have a google alert for technology and (various parts of the world) and normally never see anything on/from eastern european nations.
Amir Khalid
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
You spoil us with these piictures of such beauty.
Mel
@JPL: That would be a priceless event.
Imagine the ensuing tweetstorm!!
Uncle Cosmo
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: FWIW 53 stars on the flag would work nicely (8/7/8/7/8/7/8) as would 52 (7/8/7/8/7/8/7 or 7/6/7/6/7/6/7/6) but 51 might be a bit of a shoehorn unless the blue field was widened (9/8/9/8/9/8?)
(And FTR I am heartily sick of typing out a long comment & hitting submit only to be told that “balloon-juice is not responding” & having the whole f’ing thing lost. Starting to wonder why TF I bother.)
PJ
@Another Scott: Besides the lack of votes in Congress, another huge problem with the lack of statehood is that Congress routinely overturns DC law when it suits them (notably, a few years ago, medical marijuana legalization).
rikyrah
@MomSense:
She looked fabulous!
satby
@Baud: had to leave for the market, but you can join the team I hope to put together!
satby
@Immanentize: it’s still not set up, but I wanted to maybe get a group of us together if there was interest. Hit me up at my Etsy store and I will try to follow up with HfH next week for an EtA for build teams.
satby
@Manyakitty: @Immanentize: Global Volunteers is the org I went to Haiti with after the earthquake, and a subsidiary is Bamboo, who I went to Thailand and Cambodia with. I intend to do this project too, but they only have summer and fall weeks, so I have to get a substitute arranged at the Farmers Market. I recommend them.
currants
@Elizabelle: Thanks for fixing that–had trouble attaching a link on my phone. Without my glasses.
Yes, they’re a GREAT org–if I remember correctly, the woman who started it was at Cornell for a post-grad IT degree, stopped to think about what she was doing and what she wanted, and this is the result. They do good work re: educating women about how to do basic things around one’s dwelling, and after the 2016 election, decided to add work specifically with immigrants (I have one of their “ReSisterhood” T-shirts!). The fundraising site is still up because they’re not finished their PR work. They’ve made one trip, and are planning at least one more this summer (or maybe April, I don’t remember).
currants
@Immanentize: Yes, Elizabelle fixed it. By the way, I replied to your question about currants on last week’s garden chat. Comment on tomorrow morning’s thread if you can’t find it and I’ll post it again.