Are Puerto Ricans American Citizens?

[ClydeR]

Hillary Clinton says Puerto Ricans are American Citizens.


Washington (CNN)Hillary Clinton called out the Trump administration Sunday for its response to the devastation in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria.

"President Trump, Sec. Mattis, and DOD should send the Navy, including the USNS Comfort, to Puerto Rico now. These are American citizens," Clinton said in a Sunday morning tweet, referring to the Department of Defense, Secretary James Mattis and a US Navy ship that serves as a medical facility.

More... (http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/24/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-puerto-rico/index.html)



Really? Puerto Rico is not a state. Unlike the states affected by hurricanes -- Texas and Florida -- Puerto Rico did not vote for Trump. They couldn't vote in the general election, but Puerto Rico didn't vote for him in the primaries either. As explained below, it's not as simple as Clinton makes it sound.


On March 2, 1917, the Jones–Shafroth Act was signed, collectively making Puerto Ricans United States citizens without rescinding their Puerto Rican citizenship. In 1922, the U.S. Supreme court in the case of Balzac v. Porto Rico ruled that the full protection and rights of the U.S constitution do not apply to residents of Puerto Rico until they come to reside in the United States proper. Luis Muñoz Rivera, who participated in the creation of the Jones-Shafroth Act, gave a speech in the U.S. House floor that argued in favor of Puerto Rican citizenship. He declared that "if the earth were to swallow the island, Puerto Ricans would prefer American citizenship to any citizenship in the world. But as long as the island existed, the residents preferred Puerto Rican citizenship."[20] The Jones Act allowed locals to renounce the United States citizenship and remain exclusively Puerto Rican citizens, at the cost of being stripped of the right to vote.[21] Despite these arbitrary limitations, 287 residents completed the process to forfeit the statutory recognition.[21]

In 1952, upon U.S. Congress approving the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, also reaffirmed that Puerto Rican citizenship continued in full force. This was further reaffirmed in 2006 while the U.S. Senate probed into the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's status.[22] In 1953, U.S Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., in a memorandum sent to the United Nations, recognized that "the people of Puerto Rico continue to be citizens of the United States as well as of Puerto Rico."[5]

More... (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rican_citizenship)

[ClydeR]

The first things that crossed Trump's mind about Puerto Rico were food, water and medical.





https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DKnGOKQUIAAxxCz.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DKnHXnOUEAEBr2m.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DKnJqHHUIAEYFjK.jpg

[ClydeR]

The Trump administration sent a massive Navy ship to aid the growing humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico — two days after Hillary Clinton pleaded with him to dispatch the vessel.

More... (http://nypost.com/2017/09/26/trump-sends-comfort-ship-to-puerto-rico-days-after-hillarys-plea/)

Trump is sending the Comfort to Puerto Rico. Is it in response to Clinton's request?



But he's not suspending the Jones Act, whatever that is..


During times of emergency, the Department of Homeland Security can suspend Jones Act requirements. DHS did that very thing after Harvey hit Texas and Irma hit Florida. Unsurprisingly, many members of Congress have requested the same for Puerto Rico in the wake of Maria.

Reuters reports that DHS isn’t having it:

The Trump administration on Tuesday denied a request to waive shipping restrictions to help get fuel and supplies to storm-ravaged Puerto Rico, saying it would do nothing to address the island’s main impediment to shipping, damaged ports. …

More... (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/09/27/the-one-act-of-deregulation-that-the-trump-administration-will-not-take/)

[Methais]

Hillary saved Puerto Rico! Impeach Trump and put Hillary in office!

Hill-ar-y! Hill-ar-y! Hill-ar15-y!

[ClydeR]

Trump reversed course on the Jones Act, sort of. He's waiving it for 10 days. Can you ship from the mainland to Puerto Rico in 10 days?


The White House announced early Thursday that President Trump has agreed to waive the Jones Act, which will temporarily lift shipping restrictions on Puerto Rico and enable the hurricane-ravaged island to receive necessary aid.

The waiver from the shipping law, which requires American-made and operated vessels to transport cargo between U.S. ports, will only last for 10 days and goes into effect immediately.

“At @ricardorossello request, @POTUS has authorized the Jones Act be waived for Puerto Rico. It will go into effect immediately,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wrote on Twitter, referring to Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló.

Lawmakers in Congress since Monday have been pushing for a one-year waiver from the rules in an order to help speed up deliveries of food, fuel and other critical supplies to Puerto Rico, which has been battered by two hurricanes in the last month. Officials estimate that the island could be without power for six months.

The administration faced fierce backlash for not immediately lifting the law for Puerto Rico, after it issued a two-week waiver for Texas and Florida after hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

More... (http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/352822-sanders-jones-act-has-been-lifted)


What is the Jones Act? Here's the answer.. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/9/27/16373484/jones-act-puerto-rico
In summary, it requires shipping from one part of the US to another to be on ships constructed in the US. Its purpose when it was enacted in 1920 was to promote US shipbuilding. But it has not worked out that way. Most ships today are constructed overseas. Even with the protectionism afforded by the Jones Act, the shipbuilding industry in the US is barely surviving, and there just aren't many ships that qualify. That shifts shipping to land methods and away from shipping by sea, unless you're on an island in the middle of the ocean (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/26/us/politics/trump-puerto-rico-hurricane.html), as everybody know Puerto Rico is. Puerto Ricans believe the Jones Act severely hurt their economy even before the hurricane.

[Methais]

This is the real Jones act:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wga1nLKVlRs

[Stanley Burrell]

Hillary saved Puerto Rico! Impeach Trump and put Hillary in office!

Hill-ar-y! Hill-ar-y! Hill-ar15-y!

https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-03/6/11/enhanced/webdr11/anigif_enhanced-19829-1457282247-2.gif

/serious face

[Shaps]

A child just died in Lithuania.

FUCK AMERICA! Heartless bastards......

[ClydeR]

Puerto Ricans can't vote. They're not going to be treated like Americans who can.





https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DLDWZDtVAAAgjBI.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DLDXiQ_UEAEhjD7.jpg

[ClydeR]

In the most imaginative way possible, Trump put to rest allegation that he should not spend his time at golf courses while Puerto Rico is recovering


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOX7yv7V0zY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOX7yv7V0zY

[ClydeR]

Puerto Ricans are not showing enough gratitude..




https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DLp0A-UU8AERwb9.jpg

[ClydeR]

FEMA Administrator Brock Long on ABC's This Week program yesterday..


RADDATZ: And, Mr. Long, let's turn to Puerto Rico. The mayor of San Juan tweeting again this morning, saying power collapses in San Juan hospital with two patients being transferred out, have requested support from FEMA, Brock, nothing.

And she also says: "Increasingly painful to understand the American people want to help and U.S. government does not want to help. We need water." What's your reaction to that?

LONG: We filtered out the mayor a long time ago. We don't have time for the political noise. The bottom line is, is that we are making progress every day in conjunction with the governor. And in regards to the power failure, we're restringing a very fragile system every day. As we make progress, simple thunder storms pass through, knocked the progress out.

Rebuilding, rebuilding Puerto Rico is going to be a greater conversation for the Congress in conjunction with the governor on how they're -- you know, what the way forward is in the future of Puerto Rico.

But in regards to the power outages and the hospitals, we built an entire 911 system. We monitor the hospital system daily. And so if there is a power failure at a hospital, which we've seen two of, you know, over this past week, we're actually life-flighting (ph) the ICU patients out of those hospitals, onto the USS Comfort.

And we continue to stabilize that situation with hospitals. But as far as the political noise, we filter that out, keeps our heads down, and continue to make progress, and push forward restoring essential functions for Puerto Rico.

More... (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-10-17-aftermath-las-vegas-mass/story?id=50345749)

[ClydeR]

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló says he plans to mobilize 5.3 million Puerto Ricans living on the mainland to shake up the midterm elections in states ranging from Florida to California.

Rosselló, a Democrat and member of the island's pro-statehood New Progressive Party, is infuriated about a Republican tax plan that he says could hobble the island’s economy even as thousands of residents remain without power and water three months after Hurricane Maria.

More... (https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/20/puerto-rico-governor-tax-bill-midterms-245870)


The new tax plan treats companies on the island the same as those operating outside the U.S., subjecting them to a tax of up to 12.5 percent on intellectual property.

Even if he can get the tax changes fixed and pick up other legislative wins, Rosselló said he intends to stick to his plan. His office has begun cataloging Puerto Ricans and Latinos living on the mainland to see where they can have an impact.

So far, he figures they can sway congressional district votes in 14 states, including Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas. He pointed to the influence of Florida’s 2.7 million Cuban-Americans, a powerful and well-organized constituency.


His plan also would draw attention to Puerto Rico’s legal status, which he calls “this big elephant in the room”.

“What are we going to do with a colonial territory in the 21st century?” Rosselló said. “The United States has unfinished business. It holds the oldest and most populated colonial territory in the world.”

“Having no representation is a clear disadvantage and if you need any more evidence of this just look at the tax reform,” Rosselló said. “Just because we don’t have representation we got railroaded.”


I said it at the very beginning. I told them they would never get good treatment unless they have the right to vote.

More than a third of them still don't have electricity more than three months after the hurricane. If they were voters, they'd have electricity by now. No doubt about it.

[Methais]

I said it at the very beginning. I told them they would never get good treatment unless they have the right to vote.

More than a third of them still don't have electricity more than three months after the hurricane. If they were voters, they'd have electricity by now. No doubt about it.

What are you going to do about it?

[ClydeR]

What are you going to do about it?

I wrote an internet post!

[Methais]

I wrote an internet post!

Did it help the situation????

[ClydeR]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EDBFWStUEAAMDbB?format=png&name=small


Puerto Rico better not ask for more foreign aid.

[Methais]

https://i.imgur.com/s7SLNPI.png


I better not ask for more dildos. Even though all the ones I own are worn the fuck out.

This is correct.

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

Have you read the news about how their governing bodies are running all the politicians out because they misappropriated the funds they got and didn't fix things? Can't blame it on Trump.

[Wrathbringer]

This is correct.

:lol: This makes me miss all the posts making fun of pk for earning couch rent via testing vishras mega dildos. Man, those were always hilarious.

[Methais]

:lol: This makes me miss all the posts making fun of pk for earning couch rent via testing vishras mega dildos. Man, those were always hilarious.

:lol: