Puerto Rico

Democrats, Popular Vote, And Economic Performance Way Ahead Of Republicans

Democrats have won the national popular in seven of the last eight Presidential elections, from 1992-2020, with exception of 2004.

Democrats have had more people vote for their candidates for Congress than Republicans in the past two decades.

Democrats have only presided in the White House for one of the past eleven economic downturns, a brief recession in 1980 under President Jimmy Carter, with the other ten under Republican Presidents from Eisenhower to Trump, 1953-2021.

Under Democratic Presidents since 1961, the stock market, job growth, and economic performance have done much greater than Republican Presidents in the same period.

And yet, Democrats are at a political disadvantage, due to:

The Electoral College

Political Gerrymandering of House seats

Republicans working to undermine Democratic Presidents with the Senate Filibuster

This is why Democrats need to play “hardball”, and overcome the barriers of gerrymandering and filibusters, and move to make Washington DC and Puerto Rico the 51st and 52nd states. Also add members to the Supreme Court to overcome the political manipulation of Mitch McConnell, who helped to create a stacking of the high Court with the refusal to approve Merrick Garland in 2016, the rightful nominee of Barack Obama; and the “ram through” of Amy Coney Barrett in record time before the Presidential Election of 2020!

Republican National Convention a Total Failure On First Evening, Led By Donald Trump Jr. And Kimberly Guilfoyle, Amid Promotion Of Fear And Hysteria!

To be a Republican today and NOT be embarrassed by the disastrous Republican National Convention on Day One, would mean that you are literally insane yourself!

The speeches by a group of truly disgraceful people promoted fear and hysteria, and tried to convince us that Joe Biden is a left wing terrorist out to destroy suburbia and the American way of life!

Anyone who follows politics KNOWS that Joe Biden is a decent human being, a man of compassion and empathy, certainly not perfect, but much more a man of character and integrity than we have seen in the past four years.

Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle were particularly off the wall, crazy and looney, and both seemed to be high on cocaine, when one looked in their evil eyes and saw them both screaming, and they were both overly loud and unhinged!

This is a couple, with Donald Trump Jr. divorced, and Guilfoyle being his girlfriend, but also, in the past, she was the wife for five years, ironically, of California Governor Gavin Newsom, 15 years ago.

It is now clear why Newsom removed himself from this marriage, and in a sense, this couple of Trump Jr and Guilfoyle are “meant” for each other, as two disgusting, despicable, excuses for human beings!

She used to be on Fox News Channel, so one gets the drift of how this crazy woman has disgraced herself yet again last night. And she insulted Puerto Rico, seemingly unaware that it is part of the United States!

The Pure Cruelty, Heartlessness, And Lack Of Humanity And A Moral Compass Of Donald Trump

Every day that goes by, Donald Trump displays ever more cruelty, heartlessness, and a lack of humanity and a moral compass.

Why would he decide to promote emissions of methane into the atmosphere, with the clear knowledge that it will promote more environmental damage, making the planet ever more on the road to destruction?

Why would he order sick children who have come to the United States for medical treatment that saves their lives, to be forced to leave and go back to the nation that they came from, which does not have the medical treatments needed to perpetuate their lives?

Why would he decide that our troops and diplomats overseas, who have children while abroad, shall have their offspring not automatically declared US citizens without any complications for the future of those children?

Why would he heavily criticize Puerto Rico, and lie about the amount of aid to that island after Hurricane Maria, as they faced the threat of Hurricane Dorian?

Why would he have such hatred for immigrants, when two of his wives were immigrants themselves, and his own grandfather migrated in the late 19th century?

What is wrong with this man, that he harbors such ugly thoughts and beliefs, and seems intent on destroying any chance of having his name look at all positive in history, by his love affair with authoritarian dictators around the world?

It is perfectly clear, now if not before, that Donald Trump is a madman, a very dangerous psychopath, and yet has willing accomplices who promote his evil, heartless, and dangerous policies without any forethought.

The Trump loyalists will suffer mightily in the loss of any good reputation they might have had by their constant association with a man who has a strange hold on them, and allows them to suspend all moral and ethical judgment in service to this tyrant.

Trump is absolutely assured to go down in history as a true nightmare, and with no sane person believing that he can possibly be surpassed as being the worst President in American history.

He is a traitor to basic American values of fairness and compassion, that made America the beacon of hope for centuries of immigrants of all backgrounds who came to America and contributed to its greatness!

Donald Trump Does The Unforgivable: Attacks Joe Biden And Barack Obama On Foreign Soil, And Lies About The Obama-Biden Economic Record

Donald Trump did the unforgivable by attacking former Vice President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama on foreign soil, while in Japan this past weekend.

It is a known rule that no President deals with domestic politics while overseas, and no President embarrasses his host by putting them on the spot as he criticizes political rivals.

But this is Donald Trump, who does not believe in any rules, regulations, or common decency.

Calling Biden a low IQ individual, agreeing with totalitarian dictator Kim Jong Un of North Korea, and claiming that both Obama and Biden presided over a disastrous administration in every way, including the economy, is the continuation of an attack on opponents that began with John McCain. It has now included everyone imaginable, and not just individuals that are well known, but also victims as in Puerto Rico after the hurricane, and groups of vulnerable people, such as refugees, gays and lesbians, transgender people, disabled people, and so many more.

The massive lie about Obama, Biden, and the economy is beyond belief, when the facts are that Obama presided over the greatest economic recovery in American history, greater than Franklin D. Roosevelt before World War II resolved the Great Depression.

From 10 percent unemployment, and the worst economic conditions in 70 years in 2009, inheriting the Great Recession under George W. Bush, to Obama and Biden leaving office in January 2017 with unemployment under 5 percent, we have now seen more than eight years of constant economic growth, an all time record. The continuation of economic growth under Donald Trump would have continued if Hillary Clinton was in the White House.

The stock market also recovered more than 250 percent from what it was when Obama-Biden came in during 2009 until the beginning of 2017. And all this was done without being engaged in a major war.

Trump can lie, and his minions can believe his use of the Big Lie technique of Adolf Hitler, but “the truth shall set us free”, and history will record Barack Obama and Joe Biden for their economic accomplishments.

“Pampered, Spoiled Brat” Ready To Commit Symbolic “Reichstag Fire” Action Of Declaring National Emergency That Does Not Exist To Seize Power: Beginning Of End Of Trump Presidency

Donald Trump is about to abuse power in a way that no one can doubt the danger and the threat that he represents.

A non-existent national emergency at the US-Mexico border is about to be used as the excuse for committing a “Reichstag Fire” action by a man who inherited $200 million from his father, and is as Joe Scarborough said this morning, a “pampered, spoiled brat” who acts like a toddler in office, and is clearly mentally deranged and demented, and is a threat to the United States population and the Constitution.

Complicit in this abuse are Republicans in Congress, including Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, Steve King, and all of the House Freedom Caucus members, as well as Fox News Channel and its talk show hosts, including Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Judge Jeanine Pirro, and Michelle Malkin, and talk radio hosts, including Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, and rabble rousers such as Ann Coulter.

It is clear that Donald Trump is out to destroy the federal government and its agencies, after setting out to destroy the news media, law enforcement and intelligence and national security agencies, and undermining the judiciary with unqualified, incompetent and corrupt appointees to the federal courts. He will not be satisfied until he has finished the job of helping Vladimir Putin destroy America’s relationship with its allies, and undermine America’s domestic policy, and sow racial, religious, and ethnic hatred, and promote anti women and anti gay policies, in the name of white male supremacy.

At a time when federal workers are struggling to survive without paychecks; when people in Puerto Rico and in California are in need of national emergency support for natural disasters in the name of hurricanes and forest fires; when we have dire need for promotion of infrastructure spending, health care, education, and so many other needs, Donald Trump is declaring war on American democracy.

Donald Trump must be stopped from his abuse of power, and it is assured that the courts will rule against him, and the Congress will expose his human rights crimes against immigrants and children, and his nasty, mean spirited lack of empathy for human suffering.

The man is a cancer on the American system of government, and the crime of collusion with Russia will be further exposed when Michael Cohen testifies before Congress in February.

Meanwhile, if Donald Trump declares the equivalent of martial law to protect himself, mass demonstrations and demands for his removal from office must begin, as we face the greatest constitutional crisis since the Civil War, much worse than the Watergate Crisis under Richard Nixon.

May responsible conservative writers and commentators have joined liberals in denouncing the authoritarian bent of Donald Trump, much closer to Fascism than many realize.

We are likely to see crises arise, in such agencies as air traffic control, Transportation Security Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Secret Service, the Federal Courts, the Internal Revenue Service, the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and many other agencies. All are part of the protective nature of our federal agencies which are now crippled, as we have a longer government shutdown than ever before in American history.

The office of the American Presidency has reached a stage of being an Imperial Presidency run amuck, much worse than Richard Nixon represented, and Donald Trump must be stopped in his abuse of power for the survival of constitutional government, and sooner, rather than later.

Latinos In Congress Gain Major Role In 116th Congress

There are 57 million Latinos, from Puerto Rican heritage, as well as Cuban, Mexican, and one from Ecuador in the United States as 2018 comes to an end.

A record of 43 Latinos will be sitting in the 116th Congress, with some in leadership roles, as Latinos now constitute 18 percent of the total population, the nation’s largest minority group.

New Mexico Representative Ben Ray Lujan has been chosen by the Democratic Caucus to be Assistant Democratic Leader, the fourth ranking position in the House Leadership, and could be on the road to being a future Whip, Majority Leader, or even Speaker of the House in the future.

Meanwhile, Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto will be in charge of the party’s campaign arm for Senate races in 2020, the first Latina to have a position of authority in the Democratic Party.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus will be headed by Texas Representative Joaquin Castro, and his brother, Julian, is about to announce his candidacy for President, the first serious Latino to compete for the White House.

The caucus will pursue comprehensive immigration reform; reconstruction in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria; raising the minimum wage; lowering the cost of health care; and dealing with climate change.

Ten new Latinos are coming to Congress, the largest increase ever, with five Democrats who were first time candidates defeating Republican incumbents in November, including one Latina.

Four other Latinas will be in the new Congress, including two from Texas, and one from the Bronx, New York, and one born in Ecuador.

35 of the 43 Latinos in the next Congress are Democrats, to 8 Republicans, with only one new Republican Latino, elected in Ohio, the first Latino ever elected from Ohio.

Seven other first time Republican Latinos Congressional candidates lost, in the era of the anti Latino and anti immigrant rhetoric common to Donald Trump and his administration.

And two Republican Latinos lost their seats in California and Florida, not a good sign for Latino impact on the Republican Party in the future.

One Year Since Hurricane Maria In Puerto Rico: A Total National Tragedy, And Time For Puerto Rican Statehood

It has been one tragic year since Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, and its floods, winds, and the aftermath of very limited recovery efforts by the Trump Administration led to almost 3,000 deaths, making Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana, with its 1,800 deaths look minor by comparison.

The main job of government is to protect its population, not just from foreign foes and invasion, but also from natural disasters, and the Republican Party has set a horrible record of lack of concern and ineptness in dealing with natural disasters.

Witness Hurricane Andrew in 1992 in Florida under President George H. W. Bush; Hurricane Katrina in 2005 in Louisiana under President George W. Bush; and now Hurricane Maria in 2017 in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands under President Donald Trump.

Trump’s lack of concern is worst than the disasters under the two Bushes, and his racism is totally apparent, and the gall of him to throw paper towels on a brief visit a few weeks after the disaster shows just how despicable he is as a human being.

It is time for Puerto Rico, which is still treated as a colony, to apply for statehood, and in June of 2017 the island voted for statehood overwhelmingly, but a small percentage voted, but it should move forward expeditiously, and become the 51st state.

There is a statehood bill, that would make Puerto Rico a state by January 1, 2021, 19 days before the next Presidential inauguration.

Of course, the Republicans, if they keep control, will not wish to do so, as Puerto Rico would certainly be a Democratic state, and likely have two Democratic Senators and a few Democratic Congressmen, but it is the right thing to do, and soon.

Donald Trump And Hurricanes: Hurricane Maria In Puerto Rico, And Hurricane Florence Now Menacing The Carolinas And Virginia

Donald Trump has presided over the worst hurricane disaster in American history, with Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, leading to 3,000 deaths, the same as the attack on Al Qaeda on September 11, 2001.

He has the gall and the lack of empathy to claim a “great success”, and it is clear Trump is totally delusional, and criminal in his lack of taking responsibility for the disaster that could have been handled better by the Federal Emergency Management Agency,

And now, just in advance of hurricane season, and the menacing Hurricane Florence about to assault North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, in what some think could be the worst hurricane in memory, it has been revealed that $10 million has been transferred to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to arrange for more detentions of immigrants than already has occurred, marking the greatest such detention facilities since the Japanese Americans in World War II.

It is a criminal act to promote continued and expanded detention, and it is also criminal to take funds out of FEMA as we face another hurricane disaster season.

There has to be, eventually, full accountability for these crimes for top officials in the Trump Administration, and if the nation cannot protect its own citizens from harm from natural disasters, then how can they protect us from harm from a foreign foe, from terrorism?

That is the number one question to ask of the Trump Administration, which is proving to be more incompetent on hurricanes than even George W. Bush on Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana in 2005.

The Miracle Of Andrew Gillum, The Democratic Nominee For Governor In Florida

Today has been a glorious day, one of the best this author has experienced in a long time.

What seemed impossible happened, as Andrew Gillum, the African American Mayor of Tallahassee, Florida (the state capitol), overcame the disadvantages of no money, no winning of any polls, no advertising to speak of. He triumphed over four other candidates, all with tons of money, and polls and advertising on a large scale.

So now we have three African American candidates for Governor, with Stacey Abrams in Georgia, and Ben Jealous in Maryland, along with Andrew Gillum.

Gillum was an unknown, and this author did not vote for him, assuming he had no chance to win, but now that he has won, this author is thrilled beyond belief, and ready to help Andrew Gillum win and bring a Democratic government on the executive level to the Sunshine State, the third largest behind California and Texas.

Andrew Gillum is educated, intelligent, a great orator, with great charisma and presence, a sense of humor, exudes confidence and has had executive experience, and displays a humility that is very appealing.

Gillum is someone to take seriously, as since independents could not vote in Florida for either party’s nomination, the potential for a “blue wave” is there, with not only independents, but also moderates in the Republican Party who are unhappy with the Donald Trump led Republican Party and its candidate, a nasty, mean spirited, arrogant three term Congressman, Ron DeSantis, who already the day after the primary, is using the word “monkey”, appealing to white supremacy and white racists.

Additionally, the fact that Gillum is only 39 will appeal to African Americans, young people, educated suburbanites, and the growing Puerto Rican population after Hurricane Irma, and with them being citizens of the US, and able to vote against Trump, who was shameful in his treatment of the hurricane disaster on that island. Now we are learning that 2,975 died in Puerto Rico, 60 percent higher than died in Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005.

To make the situation even more impressive, the Attorney General nominee for the Democrats is also an African American, Sean Shaw, and the candidate for State Agricultural Commissioner is Nikki Fried, who is Jewish. So we have a truly diverse ticket, and all this should help Senator Bill Nelson hold off Governor Rick Scott, who is spending three times what Nelson is able to raise, for his campaign.

But the belief is that Gillum, Shaw, and Fried could carry Nelson on their backs, and lead to an all Democratic victory in Florida in November.

The Disaster Of Puerto Rico, 4,645 Dead, More Than September 11: A Violation Of Human Rights Perpetrated By The Trump Administration

The tragic disaster of Puerto Rico, whose population are US Citizens, is a massive violation of human rights perpetrated by the Trump Administration.

The total of 4.645 dead, not the 64 first stated, is an unbelievable loss of life, nearly two and a half times the loss of life in Hurricane Katrina (1833), and one and a half times the losses of September 11 (2996).

And yet, nothing is said or no apologies offered, or mistakes acknowledged, by Donald Trump or any of his underlings in the cabinet, and also in the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has the primary responsibility in natural disasters.

There is no conscience, no sorrow, no regrets, as Trump and his advisers are openly racist against Puerto Ricans.

If this loss of life had occurred in Texas or Florida, we would have heard mass denunciation of the lack of response, but the Republican Party in Congress has nothing to say about this great tragedy.

And with the hurricane season upon us, and reconstruction of facilities not accomplished in Puerto Rico, there is great fear of the final decimation of the island, which deserves equal treatment and consideration as much as any state and any other group of people.

If the government cannot guarantee the safety and security of its own population, then the government has failed the ultimate test—protection of national security of all of its citizens.

On this ground alone, Donald Trump and his ilk should be forced out of office, and indicted, convicted, and imprisoned for basic violation of human rights!