Should there be a Jubilee for Puerto Rico?

  • Thread starter Thread starter The_Old_Maid
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
The_Old_Maid said:
Well, we could ask, if it were Hawaii that had been so damaged by a hurricane, would public reaction and governmental response be the same, or would it be different? And if the latter, how? and why?

There was some talk in early October that the debt would indeed be eliminated, but aside from a few flutters of excitement it hasn’t amounted to much, as yet.

Sort of related: How you can help the pets of Puerto Rico.

I know, I know. People always fuss that we shouldn’t be worrying about animals until every last human has been helped. But that doesn’t reflect the spirit of giving as found in those who do both. People who help animals don’t do it instead of helping people. They help people, then they come up with the money to help animals by not taking a vacation, or by making their old car last another year.

Just a thought.
Click to expand...
Hawaii would be governmentally much easier–it’s a US state. There is a heck of a lot more we can do as far as “taking control” of municipalities and ceding control.

The problem with Puerto Rico is that there are some really corrupt government players. Without declaring them a US state those figures cannot just come in and act.

Also, the remainder of your post is very tone-deaf. Most American families are already giving up vacations and driving cars into the ground because they can’t afford food or housing or other things because of other costs.
 
I have asked the moderators to delete this thread. I would do it myself, but I have searched repeatedly and do not know how.

I do not believe I am the “tone-deaf” voice here. This thread has talked about corruption. I’m pretty sure the dogs & cats had nothing to do with it. Which ought to remind one that the children had nothing to do with it. And their subsistence-farmer parents had nothing to do with it. In other words I’m pretty sure that there’s not one person there who deserved to be hit by a hurricane no matter who did what in the past.

There are people drinking rainwater because they have nothing else. Disease has broken out. (Leptospirosis. I thought cholera would be first.)

I am embarrassed, ashamed and frankly rather angry that I started a thread that shifted into whether people are “worthy” of help. I courteously ask the moderators again to delete this thread.
 
The_Old_Maid said:
I have asked the moderators to delete this thread. I would do it myself, but I have searched repeatedly and do not know how.

I do not believe I am the “tone-deaf” voice here. This thread has talked about corruption. I’m pretty sure the dogs & cats had nothing to do with it. Which ought to remind one that the children had nothing to do with it. And their subsistence-farmer parents had nothing to do with it. In other words I’m pretty sure that there’s not one person there who deserved to be hit by a hurricane no matter who did what in the past.

There are people drinking rainwater because they have nothing else. Disease has broken out. (Leptospirosis. I thought cholera would be first.)

I am embarrassed, ashamed and frankly rather angry that I started a thread that shifted into whether people are “worthy” of help. I courteously ask the moderators again to delete this thread.
Click to expand...
We should help. My point is that many of us can’t help even by giving money because it would not get to the people. Ham radio operators are reporting diverted goods and outright theft by those people in power.

Those who are now connected via the cell phone towers dropped in are reporting much the same. There is hoarding, there are thieves…and it is by the people in charge. The only hope is neighbor to neighbor. Very little of the resources sent by America are reaching the people.

The tone-deaf part is the suggestion that many people give up luxuries they do not have. A study recently showed that a majority of Americans have less than $400 in savings. To make it sound like we’re all going on vacation while people die is a fallacy. Too many are struggling for mear substance.
 
Last edited:
A delicate balancing act is needed to report on the facts, but diplomatically enough so that the thread does not get deleted.
 
What do you call the situation when there is plenty of money, but it never reaches the end-user … the “end-needer”.

Happens LITERALLY all the time.

Tons of money is supplied, but it gets side tracked.

The government of Puerto Rico got $70 BILLION but it didn’t get used for the intended purposes … why do you think they have vulnerable electric and vulnerable water?

Here is one quote:

“There are some challenges in Puerto Rico with fuel and things like that,” says Martin-Yeboah, who coordinates medicines and supplies for HHS doctors. “We’ve had to go to the airport to retrieve medical supplies,” she says. “Our suppliers can get them to Puerto Rico, but can’t get it to the site.”

[source: Puerto Rico’s Slow-Motion Medical Disaster | WIRED ]

This was the problem in Puerto Rico from day one.

The port of San Juan had more than 9,000 containers of supplies, but there were no truck drivers … Houston had truck drivers and Florida had truck drivers who responded … but not in Puerto Rico … and the port was clogged.

One local official told me that they call it “the muy grande hombre problem” … nobody wants to pay the ten cents or to do the actual local work.

Plenty of stuff.

No local distribution.
 
Last edited:
Local corruption and theft are so bad, that it is easier to just leave Puerto Rico and start a new life on the mainland.
 
The Mayor of San Juan has been lying continuously.

Apparently, the Democratic Party has levied the task on her to make Trump look bad.

But it has been backfiring.
 
Jamie5 said:
40.png
MonteRCMS:
The Mayor of San Juan has been lying continuously.
Click to expand...
Blame the victim much?

Trump is actually the one who truly has been lying continuously.
Click to expand...
🤨

And just who are your contacts in Puerto Rico?

From the HAM radio clubs I’m still hearing that the locals are suffering greatly at the hands of a corrupt government and all donations are still being diverted to those in power.
 
Our parish has a Saint Vincent de Paul Society and they put up the money to pay for peoples’ rent and utilities. HOWEVER, they do not give the money to the people, but rather go directly to the landlord and to the electric company and pay the bills there, so that there is no chance of the money being diverted to other uses.

For food, there are food banks and other places that provide food assistance.
 
I am the thread-starter. Wow do I regret it. In fact I have spent the past few weeks contemplating whether I should delete my account from CAF altogether. At the risk of getting piled on (again), I didn’t create this thread for people to sin all over it.

Are we really arguing about helping animals over people? What do people take me for? All I meant was that if people cared enough – assuming they care – to toss a dollar in Puerto Rico’s direction, would they consider tossing in a nickel to get the animals into the shelter system before their owners eat them.

Bunch of crooks. And if Washington D.C. were hit by a natural disaster, should it be abandoned? "And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” (Jonah 4:11)

They chose to live there. That’s appalling to read it just once, let alone multiple times from multiple posters.

My (toned-down) respone #1: at what age do people “choose” to live there? Babies? First communion? Puberty? And then at what age do people get to be too old and helpless to get up and go? What is the age and age range of this “choice?” And in a commonwealth where 46 percent (Wikipedia, FWIW) of people live in poverty, where are they supposed to get the money for plane tickets off the island? They’re a thousand miles from the US mainland. They cannot drive there, take a train there, swim there, or walk there. So when did they make this “choice” to live there?

My (toned-down) response #3: God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). But are we? Would anyone say that “they chose to live there” regarding the people in the firestorms in California who burned to death?

The Hebrew Year of Jubilee was never about whether the people who received it, either deserved it or earned it. It was an unmerited act of mercy. There is not one person who claims the name of Christ who has done anything to deserve it or to earn it. It is an unmerited act of mercy. I do not care if Puerto Rico deserves a Jubilee for debt already incurred. I asked if they should receive one.

And now I shall bow out of this thread. Call me what you please. (Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
Last edited:
This has nothing to do with mercy … There is PLENTY of mercy.

The individuals are not getting the money; it is being sidetracked.

But we just do not trust the people in charge.

So, people vote with their feet and head for the mainland.

Maybe that is the difference between Protestants managing money and Catholics managing money.

But if you are Catholic, you may decide to order a Jubilee to forgive the $70 Billion in loans.

But, as a Catholic would you use your hard earned money to lend them any more money?

They promised to pay interest and to repay the principle.

And now you have nothing.

So, what do YOU do???

YOU need that money.

YOU loaned it out.

They (upon investigation) found that they had pi**ed it away …

Now what???
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top