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    lilac-iceAnne Branigin
    1/30/18 3:19pm

    In October the international aid agency I work for (I’m based elsewhere) had to step in because the US government’s response to PR was inadequate. Not only was this embarrassing for the US, but it drained resources earmarked for emergencies in countries that literally do not have the leadership, infrastructure or skills to respond to crises, and in most cases those countries are in crippling cycles of crises and recovery. Now we’re scaling back operations in PR and just providing grants to local organisations and technical expertise where needed, it’s not good practice or sustainable to get embedded, so I don’t know what the complete withdrawal of FEMA is going to mean.

    At the time everyone agreed there was a need to step in but the mood was one of collective anger and shock. Particularly because this administration is not only withdrawing US aid from the global South, and from multiple international agreements but taking every conceivable action to make the planet and the people on it less secure, stable and healthy. He has in a year basically halted 20 years of progress on aHIV, on long-term development literally held community based family planning orgs hostage. Long term his undoing of Obama’s work on climate change and funding for it is only going to make Puerto Rico and everywhere else more prone to disaster. My sector is full of problematic behaviours and ideologies and most days I question my role in it but the day he described African countries and Haiti as shitholes, while allowing international aid agencies to clean up his yard at the expense of supporting those countries to recover from decisions made by men like him, I honestly felt like the war was lost.

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      MajorBurnlilac-ice
      1/31/18 4:29pm

      Are you with Oxfam?

      Reply
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      lilac-iceMajorBurn
      1/31/18 5:14pm

      Yeah I am.

      Reply
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    HuskyBroAnne Branigin
    1/30/18 3:34pm

    Congress should be collective ashamed of themselves, every single one of them, for lying back in the cut, letting American citizens be mistreated like this.

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    Rooo sez BISH PLZAnne Branigin
    1/30/18 3:35pm

    Please send your article to your MSM network television contacts and make them talk about this. FEMA had an emergency plan on its site for Hawaii, but they somehow vanished the one for Puerto Rico and wouldn’t let the MSM see it. That’s not fishy at all.

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      gdmRooo sez BISH PLZ
      1/30/18 4:54pm

      thank you for the suggestion! this is outrageous (but not surprising) I will write to MSM and ask them to speak about this, post it to Facebook and Twitter and see if something can get going on this...thank you again!

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    Ms.MoonAnne Branigin
    1/30/18 2:42pm

    The people in Puerto Rico are poor and brown so Donald Trump don’t care if they don’t have food or water. I don’t expect it to be addressed in the SOTU and even if it is he’ll declare flawless victory.

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      LyleLanleyMs.Moon
      1/30/18 2:51pm

      Must be part of one of those “shit hole” countries he is crowing about.

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      BagpiperMs.Moon
      1/31/18 3:33am

      I highly doubt Trump knows this, but the majority of Puerto Ricans are actually white.

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    whatamithinkingAnne Branigin
    1/30/18 3:56pm

    And I suspect the evil bastards are also gonna cut off food & water aid to the U.S.Virgin Islands. No doubt Puerto Rico & the Virgin Islands qualify as “shit hole” places in Trump’s universe. Heartless.

    Wasn’t it a couple days ago Trump threatened to drastically cut off donations/aid to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees? How mean!

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    10 to 15 percent nicer commentsAnne Branigin
    1/30/18 2:40pm

    Some Puerto Ricans told BuzzFeed they hope Donald Trump will address some of these issues during his first State of the Union address

    “And just look at the great job we’ve done with Puerto Rico, seriously, the best job and best deals they’ve ever seen. And they’re not even a state! They’re not even a state and yet we saved them, 100%. I just hope it doesn’t take them too long to pay us back. It’s only fair.”

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    KC Complains A LotAnne Branigin
    1/30/18 4:16pm

    “Fuck you, brown people!”

    Donald Trump, basically.

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    AyawisgiAnne Branigin
    1/30/18 7:03pm

    Sounds like attempted murder and surely murder if this lack basic support results in someone dying. United States of America is the #1 shithole country. Deport white people who think they belong here more than anyone else and who think they have no obligation to their stolen territories.  

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    JadeAnne Branigin
    1/30/18 7:55pm

    Ironic how so many puerto ricans stateside voted for trump. I guess they thought they were white.

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    jystadAnne Branigin
    1/30/18 6:17pm

    Unfortunately, the best thing for Puerto Rico at this point is a time machine to take the island back to when the Taino people ran the place. It is beyond repair. the Republicans and Dems will not save them. Abort ship, and come to New York.

    Reply