Residents of Puerto Rico don’t pay federal income tax on income that they receive in Puerto Rico. They do pay payroll taxes, which support Medicare and Social Security, as well as tax on income sourced from the U.S. That came to $3.6 billion in 2016. What about individuals in the states? According to a new… Read more »
Congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Sunday in an interview on CNN that the federal government is to blame for the deaths following Hurricane Maria. “What we saw in Puerto Rico was a mass death of 3,000 people,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “It was the worst humanitarian crisis in modern American history, and many, many people impacted by… Read more »
On September 13th, as the Atlantic coast prepared for Hurricane Florence, President Trump tweeted, “3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico. When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by… Read more »
FEMA administrator Brock Long was interviewed on CNN as Atlantic States prepared for Hurricane Florence’s landfall. He emphasized the importance of “pre-positioning” — getting funds and response teams in place ahead of time rather than waiting until after the disaster occurs. Long spoke of disaster response as a chair with four legs: federal government state… Read more »
By Howard Hills Wall Street Journal book review praises revisionist biography glossing over William Howard Taft’s legacy of failed territorial law and policy in Puerto Rico and other unincorporated territories. In late March of 2018 it was easy for Puerto Ricans plunged into darkness and threat of a public health crisis to miss the Wall… Read more »
More than one out of every four Puerto Ricans surveyed in a scientific poll taken during July and August were seriously thinking of moving away from the territory. The poll interviewed 1,500 residents of Puerto Rico for The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation. In addition to 27% who said that they were planning or… Read more »
A June poll indicates that more than three quarters of Puerto Ricans believe that the island is unprepared for a hurricane should another storm develop during 2018. The survey, taken June 19-25, found that only five percent of respondents were “very confident” that Puerto Rico is prepared for the current hurricane season. Sixteen percent of… Read more »
As Hurricane Florence nears the southeastern United States, ABC News is reporting that President Trump has called his administration’s response to Hurricane Maria an “incredible unsung success.” “I think Puerto Rico was incredibly successful. Puerto Rico was actually our toughest one of all because it is an island,” Trump said. “I actually think it is… Read more »
U.S. District Judge Mark Walker declared last week that 32 Florida counties must provide Spanish-language ballots in the upcoming midterm elections.Walker singled out Florida’s Secretary of State, Kenneth Detzner, who claimed that he had no control over election materials in the individual counties in the state. Walker disagrees. In his decision he wrote, “As this… Read more »
The federal General Accounting Office (GAO) has released a new report on the 2017 hurricanes and wildfires that contains initial observations on the Federal response and key recovery challenges. The report notes that in 2017, four sequential disasters – hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria and the California wildfires – created an unprecedented demand for federal disaster… Read more »
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