Playing Monopoly with loaded dice

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SO WHAT WILL THE SCAM BE FOR 2020? The losers in this current shell game (besides conned taxpayers in general) are would-have-been construction wage-earners most everywhere throughout the country and overseas. Everything from elementary and middle schools, to a hazardous waste site, to overseas military housing in South Korea, Puerto Rico and elsewhere. Even $27 million for Whidbey Island Naval Air, storage capacity in Germany, a major maintenance site in Great Britain, overseas “contingencies” in Iraq and Afghanistan, etc.

This $3.6 seemingly is part of the $8 billion Donald intends to devote to new wall construction after declaring a national emergency to keep out an "invasion" of immigrants. I suspect if this ploy survives McConnell’s Congress, the next defense budget will be inflated enough to reinstate all of these projects, especially in swing states to impress voters with Trumpian largesse. Lord only knows just how Donald will divert the rest of that $8 billion.

Meanwhile, with visions of Donald prancing in my head, I’m reminded of another “stable genius”— Archie Bunker in the old “All in the Family” TV series. Archie once said in his denigrating racial-stereotyping way: “The only difference between Mexico and Puerto Rico is the fence between them.”

You may decide, as did I, from the chart above that when Donald chants “America First,” he’s obviously not including Puerto Rico (or Guam) in his conception of real America. Puerto Rico is a far-greater loser than any of the 50 states (and Guam, another U.S. territory, is a strong second) in loss of funding for construction. Puerto Rico has been getting the short end of the stick from Donald and his agencies and associates ever since the island was devastated by hurricane Maria (and hurricane Irma) in 2017, the worst natural disaster in nearly a century.

There was pretty sleazy disaster aid from our mainland to the state of emergency from which Puerto Rico still is struggling to recover.

Fortunately, Puerto Rico was spared the full force of current hurricane Dorian. But Donald made a special effort to propagandize the public mind before the storm reached the area—in case another serious measure of disaster aid might soon be requested. “Puerto Rico is one of the most corrupt places on earth. Their political system is broken and their politicians are either Incompetent or Corrupt. Congress approved Billions of Dollars last time, more than anyplace else has ever gotten, and it is sent to Crooked Pols. No good! . . .

“. . . And by the way, I’m the best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico!”

On Aug. 28. MotherJones.com noted: “On Tuesday, President Trump falsely claimed on Twitter that Congress granted Puerto Rico $92 billion in aid. According to FEMA’s data on disaster funding, Congress has allocated a total of almost $42.7 billion, less than half of what Trump claimed, to the Puerto Rican government for disaster assistance, flood control, and other services related to recovery. Of the amount Congress has approved for Puerto Rico, less than $14 billion has been disbursed to the island so far.”

On April 1 the U.S. Senate voted down two different disaster bills providing relief for Puerto Rico.

Puerto Ricans are citizens of the U.S., legal residents in any state. But Donald seems to consider the island more like one of the “s—-hole” nations to which he once referred. Of course, while citizens, Puerto Ricans do not vote for President or have their own senators, etc.—unless they are living in the U.S.

You can see from the above map that if Donald’s anti-refugee wall were extended east through the Gulf of Mexico (which he has not yet re-named) Puerto Rico would be well south. And those people, some 3.4 million of them, are ethnically Hispanic.

How come Hawaii became a state in 1959 and 60 years later Puerto Rico is still a territory?

DETAIL—The most recent U.S. warrior killed in Afghanistan was SFC Barreto Ortiz of the 82nd Airborne Division. He was Puerto Rican.

NEXT UP—Funding from the 2018 Bipartisan Budget Act and the Affordable Care Act runs out September 30. For Puerto Rico, starting Oct. 1, 2019, the beginning of fiscal year 2020, the island would receive only an estimated $366.7 million in federal matching dollars to cover its
Medicaid beneficiaries. Some 1.6 milllion, nearly half the island’s population, are reliant upon Medicaid. See https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/460926-puerto-ricos-next-crisis-is-coming-and-only-congress-can-stop

IN MEMORY of Port Townsend’s Abraham (Abie) Velasquez, his wife Brenda and their dog Pickles. Abie was a long-time friend and fellow Legionnaire who, after Brenda died, returned to his native Puerto Rico to spend his final years.