# Fuck you if you don't care about Puerto Rico, peckerhead **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 22, 2017, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-if-you-dont-care-about-puerto-rico-peckerhead/796949 "2017-09-22T06:25:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-if-you-dont-care-about-puerto-rico-peckerhead/796949/61 "2017-09-29T03:26:05Z")
Nm ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-if-you-dont-care-about-puerto-rico-peckerhead/796949/62 "2017-09-29T13:17:57Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > And I’m sure those folks in P.R. can bite the bullet and drink their own spit until the aid arrives. I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t work (second Law of Thermodynamics or something). You need to drink someone else’s spit. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-if-you-dont-care-about-puerto-rico-peckerhead/796949/63 "2017-09-29T13:51:06Z")
> [@Punoqllads](#): > > Alternating 8 and 9 rows twists knots in OCD Punoqllads. It’s no worse than out current 50-star pattern alternating 5 and 6. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-if-you-dont-care-about-puerto-rico-peckerhead/796949/64 "2017-09-29T14:28:07Z")
I’m genuinely mystified by all the flag talk, here. If it’d otherwise be bad for the US to have Puerto Rico become a state, I can’t imagine we’d even _mention_ stars-on-the-flag challenges; and, if it’d otherwise be really terrific for the US to have Puerto Rico become a state, I figure that odds are we’d talk excitedly about making it happen without caring all that much about a 51st star. It’s only in some odd Venn-diagram overlap that this makes any sense to me: it’d almost have to be the weirdly-specific case that making Puerto Rico a state would otherwise be in the best interests of the United States – but only if it provides so hilariously small a benefit that the cost of putting a 51st star on the flag means we maybe wouldn’t break even; it’s that close a call. Do I have that right? Is that, necessarily, the implied context of the ‘stars’ issue? ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-if-you-dont-care-about-puerto-rico-peckerhead/796949/65 "2017-09-29T15:02:48Z")
The [mayor of San Juan loses it](http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/29/politics/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-san-juan-mayor-trump-response/index.html)\* (more politely than I would; I’d’ve blown through my stock of F-bombs) over acting Secretary of Homeland Security’s claim that the Puerto Rico hurricane relief efforts are a “good news story”. > [@](#): > > San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz reacted with shock and anger to acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke on Friday, saying Puerto Rico’s recovery is “not a good news story.” > > “This is a ‘people are dying’ story,” she said in disbelief. > > … > > “Well maybe from where she’s standing it’s a good news story,” Yulín Cruz told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota after she was played the clip on “New Day.” “When you’re drinking from a creek, it’s not a good news story. When you don’t have food for a baby, it’s not a good news story. When you have to pull people down from buildings – I’m sorry, that really upsets me and frustrates me.” - Warning: Typical CNN autoplay video with annoying ad lead-in. Also text. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-if-you-dont-care-about-puerto-rico-peckerhead/796949/66 "2017-09-29T17:22:16Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Do I have that right? Is that, necessarily, the implied context of the ‘stars’ issue? No, sigh, there’s another and far more obvious reason that needs multiple cover stories. It’s pretty much the same one that kept Hawaii out for over half a century. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-if-you-dont-care-about-puerto-rico-peckerhead/796949/67 "2017-09-29T18:40:32Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > No, sigh, there’s another and far more obvious reason that needs multiple cover stories. It’s pretty much the same one that kept Hawaii out for over half a century. Then why the heck are folks on both sides of this acting like the stars-on-a-flag question is serious business? It seems like so ludicrously implausible a point of contention that I don’t see how anybody can advance it with a straight face, or how anybody can reply to it as if it’s not meant as a joke. (And I don’t mean that as some kind of pejorative; I mean _as a literal joke._ If you remember when Steve Martin’s opening line upon coming out on stage involved saying “I’m Steve Martin, and I’ll be out here in a minute” – or explaining that the comic couldn’t make it tonight, so have a safe ride home – it’s like that: it’s _structured_ like something that somebody would normally say in such a situation; but a moment later you catch yourself and note that, while it _seemed_ like a routine thing to say right when you’d expect one, it was of course only ever meant as an are-you-paying-attention goof.) ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-if-you-dont-care-about-puerto-rico-peckerhead/796949/68 "2017-09-29T19:11:52Z")
If there’s one take away from the last few weeks, it’s that Americans get really weird about their flag. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Plutonium\_Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@The\_Plutonium\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Plutonium_Kid)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-if-you-dont-care-about-puerto-rico-peckerhead/796949/69 "2017-09-29T22:47:43Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > [Not enough Puerto Ricans support it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statehood_movement_in_Puerto_Rico), and Congress isn’t too crazy about the additional economic burden. Uh … How are Puerto Rico’s economic problems not ours? It may not be a state, but it’s still a territory, Puerto Ricans are legally American citizens, and whatever problems Puerto Rico has are the nation’s problems, not just Puerto Rico. If Puerto Rico’s economic problems become as bad as Venezuela’s, our nation is going to have a huge problem on its hands. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Plutonium\_Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@The\_Plutonium\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Plutonium_Kid)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-if-you-dont-care-about-puerto-rico-peckerhead/796949/70 "2017-09-29T22:51:06Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Puerto Rico is also pretty democratic so the Republicans are not too keen on just giving the Democrats another safe seat. Nitpick: You should have capitalized “Democratic.” ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2017, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-if-you-dont-care-about-puerto-rico-peckerhead/796949/71 "2017-09-30T16:14:53Z")
I just watched this excellent John Oliver piece about the Puerto Rican financial crisis. It’s an old piece from Spring 2016 and I must admit this was all news to me. Short version is that Puerto Rico was remade as a tax haven for corporations and wealthy individuals, on the theory that economic growth would compensate for all the tax breaks. It didn’t work. Disaster ensued. The devil is in the details, though. Take 20 minutes and watch the piece. At the end you’ll be rewarded by Lin-Manuel Miranda ( creator and star of Hamilton ) rapping about the situation. The link is to a Rolling Stone article about the piece. The video of the episode is at the top of the story. [http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/john-oliver-enlists-hamilton-creator-to-rap-about-puerto-rico-crisis-20160425](http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/john-oliver-enlists-hamilton-creator-to-rap-about-puerto-rico-crisis-20160425) ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-if-you-dont-care-about-puerto-rico-peckerhead/796949/72 "2017-09-30T21:59:45Z")
The Trump Administration may be counting on Puerto Rican economic issues being simplified by the deaths of thousands of the island’s residents: > [@](#): > > Already an outbreak of conjunctivitis has infected 300 people in Loiza, a municipality 30 minutes from San Juan by car, according to Mayor Julia Navarro who drove to the capital for help. > > … “I’m here because there are still murky waters clogged on my streets and residents have been showing symptoms of Zika, Dengue and conjunctivitis virus,” Navarro told The Daily Beast as she walked up the stairs to the Puerto Rican Convention Center, where the government has set up a command center. > “If I didn’t come here personally, I wouldn’t get any help.” she added. > > … President of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Puerto Rico, Victor Ramos, said these outbreaks are just the beginning. > “We still see communities were flood water is on their driveways and common playground areas. This has to stop. The second someone comes in contact with flood water, their lives and are in danger.” Ramos said adding that floodwater is a mixture of rain and sewage water. > > With half of the population short of running water, personal hygiene has declined dramatically, so Ramos anticipates that the island faces outbreaks of deadly cholera, hepatitis A, meningitis, and salmonella. > “Without water supply, residents rely on stocking water to wash their mouth and do the dishes. This water is often stored incorrectly and this gets infected rapidly,” Ramos said. … [Outbreaks Begin in Puerto Rico While Trump Tweets ‘Amazing Job’](http://www.thedailybeast.com/outbreaks-begin-in-puerto-rico-while-trump-tweets-amazing-job) (published today, 30 September.) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-if-you-dont-care-about-puerto-rico-peckerhead/796949/73 "2018-03-01T13:26:29Z")
The Trump administration has cut hurricane aid to Puerto Rico in half: > [@](#): > > Puerto Rico’s governor said Tuesday that the U.S. Treasury Department has cut a $4.7 billion disaster relief loan available to the U.S. territory by more than half, and he demanded help from Congress. > > Gov. Ricardo Rossello said federal officials reduced the amount to $2 billion without providing an explanation nearly five months after Congress approved the loan. > **[Puerto Rico says Treasury abruptly cutting $4.7 billion relief loan to $2...](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/puerto-rico-says-treasury-abruptly-cutting-4-7-billion-relief-loan-to-2-billion/)** > > Gov. Ricardo Rossello said federal officials reduced the amount to $2 billion without providing an explanation ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-if-you-dont-care-about-puerto-rico-peckerhead/796949/74 "2018-03-01T15:13:01Z")
“Reason? We need a _reason_ for cutting aid to brown people?” ---
**Author:** ![Whiskey\_Dickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc348/32.png) [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-if-you-dont-care-about-puerto-rico-peckerhead/796949/75 "2018-03-01T16:55:27Z")
I remember when I lived in the US and held a green card, my neighbour went on a “immigrants are lazy” rant. I jokingly reminded her that I was an immigrant, and she responded, “oh no, not like you. I mean those Puerto Ricans.” Presumably I was OK because I am western European descent. Never did point out that PR people are American. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-if-you-dont-care-about-puerto-rico-peckerhead/796949/76 "2018-03-01T17:11:38Z")
Whoa whoa whoa there fellows, hold on, the administration’s a bunch of clowns BUT the legislative language did authorize “up to” 4.9 billion in available credit for all jurisdictions affected by the hurricanes to cover quantified loss of revenue and unforeseen expeses. It was not a guarantee to be upfronted in full (and meanwhile there’s over $16 Bn specifically committed to PR disaster relief and recovery in other appropriations). It’s up to the governor to make his case that more of it should come forth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-if-you-dont-care-about-puerto-rico-peckerhead/796949.md?page=3)