by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Let me begin by saying this: I love Puerto Rico. I have had the good fortune to have been to the United States Territory of Puerto Rico on multiple occasions, and I have always come away feeling that it is truly someplace special.
I love the little shops and colorful buildings of Old San Juan, and even the loud music from the Hard Rock Cafe as it rolls down the cobbled streets toward the Caribbean. I love the pigeons swarming through the small stone sanctuaries up near the old fort, and I certainly love the massive fort itself - a bastion of severe stone architecture that was erected hundreds of years ago by Spain to ward off challengers to its dominance in the New World.
I love the people of Puerto Rico, the artisans, shopkeepers, and street vendors - as well as the congenial employees in the hundreds of businesses that have branches nationwide, even in the small Missouri towns like the one where I live - familiar businesses such as Walgreens. McDonald's, and even the omnivore Walmart. In many ways walking down the streets of cities in Puerto Rico is very similar to being at home.
And then there are the natural wonders of the island, the beautiful beaches, and, in particular El Yunque, Puerto Rico's unique and inspirational rain forest. On two separate occasions I have rented a car and driven aimlessly through El Yunque enjoying the scenery as the roads wind through lush tropical vegetation, past stunning waterfalls, and to remote observatories with magnificent vistas.
Yes, I love Puerto Rico - but my congressman, Jason T. Smith, a Republican representing Missouri's 8th, well . . . not so much.
One does not have to be a news junkie to remember or realize that the Trump administration's response to the devastating Hurricane Maria which hit Puerto Rico nearly a year-and-a-half ago was abysmal. Trump was slow in visiting the island, and when he did finally make it down he minimized the situation by throwing rolls of paper towels to survivors of the massive storm. Not enough federal funds were directed to the island to get the power and water supplies up and running for most of the residents, and what money was authorized often did not make it to the island.
To many it seemed that the Trump administration had a silent agenda of thwarting the proud island's ability to recover. Indeed, some officials in and near the Trump orbit are now openly talking about using some of the money intended for Puerto Rico's recovery on Trump's much-hyped wall along the southern U.S. border. Puerto Rico, it should be noted, is still a very long way from recovering completely from the hurricane, and those funds could and should still be used as they were originally intended.
Things are still so bad in Puerto Rico, in fact, that Broadway superstar and native Puerto Rican, Lin-Manuel Miranda, recently took his Hamilton troupe to the island to raise the spirits of the people still there - and hopefully to raise some relief funds in the process.
This past weekend a group of thirty-six House members from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus along with a flotilla of lobbyists went to Puerto Rico to raise funds and awareness regarding the situation there. While in Puerto Rico they also met with government officials, business and labor leaders, and the island's Fiscal Control Board.
By yesterday all of those representatives had returned and Congress was back to business as usual - this time trying to come up with some form of budget resolution that would pass muster with Donald Trump and Ann Coulter. An exchange among lawmakers on the floor of the House became heated, and at one point someone on the Republican side yelled out "Go back to Puerto Rico!"
Democratic Representative Tony Cardenas of California immediately took offense and tried to find out which of the fifty or so paunchy white Republican lawmakers standing before him had yelled that insult. Even though Cardenas asked multiple times, the group all stood silent like shame-faced schoolboys.
Rep. Cardenas explained his own rage at the taunt this way:
And while Rep. Cardenas may be mollified, he still shows signs of a lingering irritation regarding the incident. He said that the remark uttered by Jason Smith shows a "lack of understanding about the minority experience in the United States."
Jason Smith is my representative in Congress. He says that he is sorry for his insensitive remark, and hopefully he is. That's one possibility. Another possibility, of course, is that he is in the cheque of applicants waiting to replace disgraced and racist GOP Congressman Steve King as the most odious member of the House.
Hopefully Jason Smith is rightfully ashamed of his schoolyard bully performance, but whether he is or not, this constituent is certainly embarrassed and ashamed for him - as well as for our congressional district and the great state of Missouri.
We are better than that!
Citizen Journalist
Let me begin by saying this: I love Puerto Rico. I have had the good fortune to have been to the United States Territory of Puerto Rico on multiple occasions, and I have always come away feeling that it is truly someplace special.
I love the little shops and colorful buildings of Old San Juan, and even the loud music from the Hard Rock Cafe as it rolls down the cobbled streets toward the Caribbean. I love the pigeons swarming through the small stone sanctuaries up near the old fort, and I certainly love the massive fort itself - a bastion of severe stone architecture that was erected hundreds of years ago by Spain to ward off challengers to its dominance in the New World.
I love the people of Puerto Rico, the artisans, shopkeepers, and street vendors - as well as the congenial employees in the hundreds of businesses that have branches nationwide, even in the small Missouri towns like the one where I live - familiar businesses such as Walgreens. McDonald's, and even the omnivore Walmart. In many ways walking down the streets of cities in Puerto Rico is very similar to being at home.
And then there are the natural wonders of the island, the beautiful beaches, and, in particular El Yunque, Puerto Rico's unique and inspirational rain forest. On two separate occasions I have rented a car and driven aimlessly through El Yunque enjoying the scenery as the roads wind through lush tropical vegetation, past stunning waterfalls, and to remote observatories with magnificent vistas.
Yes, I love Puerto Rico - but my congressman, Jason T. Smith, a Republican representing Missouri's 8th, well . . . not so much.
One does not have to be a news junkie to remember or realize that the Trump administration's response to the devastating Hurricane Maria which hit Puerto Rico nearly a year-and-a-half ago was abysmal. Trump was slow in visiting the island, and when he did finally make it down he minimized the situation by throwing rolls of paper towels to survivors of the massive storm. Not enough federal funds were directed to the island to get the power and water supplies up and running for most of the residents, and what money was authorized often did not make it to the island.
To many it seemed that the Trump administration had a silent agenda of thwarting the proud island's ability to recover. Indeed, some officials in and near the Trump orbit are now openly talking about using some of the money intended for Puerto Rico's recovery on Trump's much-hyped wall along the southern U.S. border. Puerto Rico, it should be noted, is still a very long way from recovering completely from the hurricane, and those funds could and should still be used as they were originally intended.
Things are still so bad in Puerto Rico, in fact, that Broadway superstar and native Puerto Rican, Lin-Manuel Miranda, recently took his Hamilton troupe to the island to raise the spirits of the people still there - and hopefully to raise some relief funds in the process.
This past weekend a group of thirty-six House members from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus along with a flotilla of lobbyists went to Puerto Rico to raise funds and awareness regarding the situation there. While in Puerto Rico they also met with government officials, business and labor leaders, and the island's Fiscal Control Board.
By yesterday all of those representatives had returned and Congress was back to business as usual - this time trying to come up with some form of budget resolution that would pass muster with Donald Trump and Ann Coulter. An exchange among lawmakers on the floor of the House became heated, and at one point someone on the Republican side yelled out "Go back to Puerto Rico!"
Democratic Representative Tony Cardenas of California immediately took offense and tried to find out which of the fifty or so paunchy white Republican lawmakers standing before him had yelled that insult. Even though Cardenas asked multiple times, the group all stood silent like shame-faced schoolboys.
Rep. Cardenas explained his own rage at the taunt this way:
"When people blurt things out like that, it certainly sounds like the old saying, 'go back to where you came from.' Since I was a little boy I've heard that blurted at me many times, but it's sad that anything even remotely close to that would be said to me on the floor of the House."Later in the day, after Rep. Cardenas had asked the group who was responsible and no one had owned up to it, the rightfully offended Representative received a telephone call from Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri's 8th congressional district. Smith said that he was the guilty party, and he reportedly apologized profusely.
And while Rep. Cardenas may be mollified, he still shows signs of a lingering irritation regarding the incident. He said that the remark uttered by Jason Smith shows a "lack of understanding about the minority experience in the United States."
Jason Smith is my representative in Congress. He says that he is sorry for his insensitive remark, and hopefully he is. That's one possibility. Another possibility, of course, is that he is in the cheque of applicants waiting to replace disgraced and racist GOP Congressman Steve King as the most odious member of the House.
Hopefully Jason Smith is rightfully ashamed of his schoolyard bully performance, but whether he is or not, this constituent is certainly embarrassed and ashamed for him - as well as for our congressional district and the great state of Missouri.
We are better than that!
1 comment:
Yes, your comments are right-on, Rocky. This Smith story even made it into the Washington Post. Missouri in the headlines again for all the wrong reasons. Ugh. As reported there, after Rep. Cárdenas accepted Smith's apology, Cárdenas quoted something his mother often told him, “From everything bad, something good will always come of it.”
To that I would say, from his mouth to God's ear.
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