Puerto Rico's Existential Crisis, Cont'd.

Photo: NBC News

We noted yesterday that our fellow citizens in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are suffering in ways we haven't seen before. The island is running out of food and fresh water, it has no electricity, and now there are reports that its hospitals and medical facilities are failing and threatening the lives of thousands. The island's 3.4 million people -- all American citizens -- are pleading for stepped up aid a week after the most damaging hurricane in a century battered the island. Puerto Rico's Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said the commonwealth needs more help than it's received thus far:

“We need more help. We need more help with resources. We need more help with people being deployed so that we can get logistical support elsewhere. And we need Congress to take action so we can have an aid package that is real for the American citizens that live in Puerto Rico and that is flexible so that we can take immediate action.”

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who represents thousands of Puerto Rican Americans in New York, has called for including Puerto Rico in any supplemental disaster relief package for victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and pledged support of the Democratic Party.  Meanwhile, bigoted sociopath Donald "Rump" Trump took time from tweeting about the NFL and Hillary Clinton to finally talk about aid, but had to link the disaster in Puerto Rico to the commonwealth's infrastructure and debt problems. Aside from his antipathy to anyone Hispanic (perhaps excluding Cuban Americans), Rump may be too ignorant to know Puerto Ricans are more American than he pretends to be.

Please be generous in contributing to these organizations who are struggling to get Puerto Rico back on its feet again. Your contributions will almost certainly save lives at this critical point.