The 2018 Boston Red Sox won it all last year and after their last upcoming road game in Baltimore, the reigning champions have been invited to the White House to culminate their achievement with a meeting in the White House with President Trump.

They will not be going as a team.

Puerto Rico is very important to me. During the winter I spent a lot of time back home, visiting my family and friends. Unfortunately, we are still struggling, still fighting. Some people still lack basic necessities, others remain without electricity and many homes and schools are in pretty bad shape almost a year and a half after Hurricane María struck.

Even though the United States Government has helped, there’s still a long road ahead and that is OUR reality. I’ve used my voice on many occasions so that Puerto Ricans are not forgotten and my absence (from the White House) is no different. As such, at this moment, I don’t feel comfortable celebrating in the White House.
— Alex Cora, manager of the Boston Red Sox

Unless Cora gets his only news from CNN and MSNBC, it’s also a known fact that one of the single most reasons for any delays in aid actually reaching the people of Puerto Rico is the well-documented corrupt government officials that have taken care of their own families and friends first. Routine corruption that has made any suggestion of Puerto Rico becoming a state a bad joke.

Flashback: Puerto Rican Officials Hoarded FEMA Aid, Bash President Trump

Other Red Sox players deciding not to go to the White House are Xander Bogaerts, David Price, Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Rafael Devers, Hector Velazquez, and Christian Vazquez: most of whom deciding not to publicly offer any insights as to why not.

But this, again, is a blown opportunity many would pay many dollars to have.

As much as Cora believes he knows all about what’s going on in Puerto Rico, is there even the most remote possibility that President Trump just may have some insights that haven’t been reported in the media? Probably. Are there some things Cora knows that would be beneficial for the president to be aware of? Probably.

Granted, with all the pomp and circumstance happening on Thursday, a political discussion might not be apropos. But had Alex Cora and the other boycotting players attended, it’s not like one of them couldn’t ask Donald Trump for an appointment next time they’re in town and it’s not like Donald Trump would say “no”.

But the Red Sox manager and players will happily never know what they don’t know because they blew off a chance for that rare opportunity for a dialogue with the president.

…
I guess they showed him.

First Lady Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is a top executive at the company that earned the contract to build the failed Obamacare website. Toni Townes-Whitley, Princeton class of ’85, is senior vice president at CGI Federal, which earned the no-bid contract to build the $678 million Obamacare enrollment website at Healthcare.gov. CGI Federal is the U.S. arm of a Canadian company.
— Daily Caller, 10/25/13

We all know how well that $678 million no-bid contract worked out for the American people. Granted, working within the red-tape federal government parameters is probably a bear to circumnavigate, but for the amount of money awarded it should have been graciously dealt with and a working website delivered.

Five years later, we apparently still have the incompetent mixing with federal government access to millions of taxpayer dollars, a failure to deliver the goods as promised and a black woman with questionable ability to handle the task at hand.

The mission for the Federal Emergency Management Agency was clear: Hurricane Maria had torn through Puerto Rico, and hungry people needed food. Thirty million meals needed to be delivered as soon as possible. For this huge task, FEMA tapped Tiffany Brown, an Atlanta entrepreneur with no experience in large-scale disaster relief and at least five canceled government contracts in her past. FEMA awarded her $156 million for the job, and Ms. Brown, who is the sole owner and employee of her company, Tribute Contracting LLC, set out to find some help.

Ms. Brown, who is adept at navigating the federal contracting system, hired a wedding caterer in Atlanta with a staff of 11 to freeze-dry wild mushrooms and rice, chicken and rice, and vegetable soup. She found a nonprofit in Texas that had shipped food aid overseas and domestically, including to a Houston food bank after Hurricane Harvey.

By the time 18.5 million meals were due, Tribute had delivered only 50,000. And FEMA inspectors discovered a problem: The food had been packaged separately from the pouches used to heat them. FEMA’s solicitation required “self-heating meals.”

“Do not ship another meal. Your contract is terminated,” Carolyn Ward, the FEMA contracting officer who handled Tribute’s agreement, wrote to Ms. Brown in an email dated Oct. 19 that Ms. Brown provided to The New York Times. “This is a logistical nightmare.”
— New York Times, 2/6/18

This is NOT to say they’re aren’t competent black people around the country who can’t handle large scale projects, but we also live at a time when racebaiting big mouths get the attention and much is done to placate them. Possibly knowing a few Obama holdovers in the federal government to assist in the tax dollar hook-up didn’t hurt either.

Then again if you screw the taxpayers and you’re an aggrieved minority, don’t assume responsibility. Blame and bite the hand that fed you very well.

Brown admits she didn’t have the money to finance to project but insists she wasn’t awarded the contract as part of a sweetheart deal. “I got it because I had a very good proposal and understanding of what was needed,” she told CNN. “Here is what I can say, I’ve had challenges with government contracts in the past. The primary reason is financial resources, and lack of support,” she said. She says FEMA was the real problem. “They need to really shore up their infrastructure for payment for their contractors,” Brown said. “If you want someone to provide a service of $155 million, you really should pay or wire transfer within 24 hours or pay a percentage.”

Brown told CNN she plans to sue the government for $70 million.
— Slate, 2/6/18

Brown admits she didn’t have the means to create and deliver the meals prior to accepting the contract, but that’s not what she wrote when she sought millions of taxpayer dollars.

We can deliver 10 million per day. We can deliver to all locations.
— Tiffany Brown, Tribute “proposal” for Maria Meals

Obviously not but now “FEMA is to blame” for giving a contract to a woman who shouldn’t have applied for it in the first place.

Most contractors understand payment can take between 30 and 60 days after delivery of a product and the federal government is no exception. And now she plans on suing the taxpayer for termination of a deal she couldn’t deliver. Demanding payment despite having a history of failure will probably result in the misguided black, liberal traditional charge of racism and she’ll get paid something to make her go away… at our expense.

President Donald Trump should avoid making comments that hurt the people of Puerto Rico, San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz told CNN following a briefing with Trump on the island.

“I told him, ‘Mr. President this is about saving lives. It’s not about politics,’” Yulín Cruz said. “That’s all the interaction that mayors had with him.“
— CNN, 10/3/17

Of course, there are always two sides to every story.

I don’t know why she is saying that. What I can tell you is my experience.

She [Mayor Cruz] is not participating in any meetings and we had a couple already with the governors and with representation of FEMA and of HUD, of these whole federal agencies that have given us help and she’s not participating in those meetings and some mayors from her political party have been participating, so I don’t know why she is saying that. My experience is very different.
— Angel Perez, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico mayor

As we’ve shared earlier, some politicians have used the hurricane aftermath in Puerto Rico for blatant self-promotion and it now appears there are actually government elected and employees who may be hoarding the life-saving supplies sent from the U.S. mainland.

It would be politically incorrect and probably racist to conclude systemic corruption is the island’s culture, but it clearly is.

“This morning we received information from a town on the Island where a person close to the municipal administration was asking one of our federal agents that the supplies that were there could not be touched because they were for his mayor,” said federal prosecutor Rosa Emilia Rodriguez, who then indicated that the case is already being investigated.

She added that he also received confidences from another islander whose official was also keeping supplies for “constituents who had voted for that person. This is not the time to do politics … this is the time to help and to be kind to others. This is a tragedy and nobody should take advantage of the aid, “said Rodriguez, adding that if they manage to prove the indications, the accusations will arrive “no matter which party, or whoever. “
— Metro, 10/9/17

Be very skeptical of the screeching media, demanding to know why aspects of FEMA recovery efforts aren’t happening as fast as they determine it should be. The answer is one they can’t allow the American taxpayer to hear and Democrat Party to answer for.

For the last 30 years, the Puerto Rican government has been completely inept at handling regular societal needs, so I just don’t see it functioning in a crisis like this one. Even before the hurricane hit, water and power systems were already broken. And our $118 billion debt crisis is a result of government corruption and mismanagement.

Watch out what relief funds you approve and let our local government handle. Don’t let the Puerto Rican government play the victim and fool you. They have no clue what they are doing, and I worry that they will mishandle anything that comes their way.

It looks like Mr. Rodriguez was spot on and the misleading media isn’t helping either.

I’m really tired of Puerto Rican government officials blaming the federal government for their woes and for not acting fast enough to help people on the island. Last week I had three federal agents in my office and I was so embarrassed; I went out of my way to apologize to them for the attitude of my government and what they have been saying about the US response. When the hurricane hit we had experts from FEMA from all over the US on the ground and I was really proud of their quick response. The first responders and FEMA have all been outstanding in this crisis, and should be supported.

I have 50 engineers that I have sent out pro bono to help local companies get back on their feet. This includes getting people gasoline and cash, and helping them connect to others that can assist with repairs without delays.

I won’t allow my people to work with the local government.
— Jorge Rodriguez, CEO of PACIV

Name one journalist (who’s probably never heard of Ohm’s Law) that can tell you how and why electricity comes from a pole into their home, let alone know where to start rebuilding a damaged power grid.

CNN: Fewer Puerto Ricans have power restored than a week ago
NY Times: 84 Percent of Puerto Rico Still Doesn’t Have Power
WaPo: Is it lights out for Puerto Rico?

But if it’s about whining about the president’s direction and FEMA’s efforts, they know just what the people need to hear.

While the professional, partisan media tells the American people that Puerto Rico essentially remains in the dark, reality on the ground is another thing.

The executive director of the Electric Energy Authority (AEE), Ricardo Ramos, said Wednesday that the country has light in most of the municipalities, with the exception of the southeast and central strip of the island.

Ramos, speaking at a press conference at the Convention Center, also said that the public corporation “is going to meet the goals” established by the governor Ricardo Rosselló Nevares, who indicated that that agency must have energized by 95 percent the country the 15th of December.
— Metro, 10/18/17

The media and partisan politicians lying to the American people is something expected. Intentionally causing physical misery for political gain is also expected of Democrats, no matter how benign-to-lethal that misery will be.

Just ask Baltimore, South Central Los Angeles, Detroit, New Orleans, Oakland, Washington, D.C., and now Puerto Rico….

UPDATE

The Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, said Wednesday that bureaucracy and inefficiency across local and federal government entities are to blame for the deaths of nearly 3,000 on the island in the wake of Hurricane Maria, which came to light as part of a newly released study commissioned by the Puerto Rican government. In particular, Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz blamed President Donald Trump, federal officials and Puerto Rican officials for not providing more assistance in what the Puerto Rican government now acknowledges was a storm deadlier than Hurricane Katrina.
— CNN, 8/29/18

Unfortunately, we may never know just how many lives may have been saved if the aid intended for the people wasn’t intercepted and hoarded for the politically-privileged Democrat government officials, friends and families.

Loosing….

Of course if all you had to go by was the #FakeNews media, “3,000” was an easily-recitable round figure.

ABC News: Trump rejects revised Puerto Rico death toll, tweets ‘3000 people did not die’ in hurricanes
CNBC: Trump claims without evidence that 3,000 people did not die in Puerto Rico hurricanes, blames Democrats for inflating toll
NY Times: Rejecting Puerto Rican Death Toll, Trump Accuses Democrats of Inflating It
Daily Beast: Jake Tapper: Is Trump Unaware 3,000 People Died in Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria?
CNN: Trump falsely claims nearly 3,000 Americans in Puerto Rico ‘did not die’
USA Today: Nearly 3000 people died in Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria

But as in anything, it all depends on what you want the public to believe based on whose “facts” you decide to credit.

Puerto Rican authorities report only 64 deaths from Hurricane Maria, the worst storm to hit the island in nearly a century. But statistical estimates point to many more victims.
— Royal Statistical Society, 2/6/18

• The New York Times calculated 1,052 deaths through October.
• The Center for Investigative Reporting calculated 985 through October.
• University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez professors calculated 822, with a 95 percent confidence range that the total was somewhere between 605 and 1,039.
• Pennsylvania State University professors calculated excess deaths of about 500 in September, or a total of 1,085 if the same pattern held in October. That estimate was based on six weeks of mortality records.
• A Latino USA analysis, using updated data from Puerto Rico’s Department of Health, calculated 1,194 excess deaths in September and October.
• The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers posted a document that includes this question: Does your study say that 4,645 died? The answer: “No. We provide a 95% confidence interval of 793 to 8,498, and 4,645 falls in the middle of this range.”
— Washington Post, 6/1/18

Given the situation on the ground, the death count is understandably all over the place as opposed to the “3,000” number many lock onto for political anti-Trump expediency, which incidentally appears nowhere in the studied estimates.

UPDATE

While some are trying to make the case that Puerto Rico deserves statehood status, some of the long, underreported fraudulent behavior of local officials keeps rearing its ugly head.

Three officials with Puerto Rico’s Senate were arrested by FBI agents Thursday and later charged by the U.S. territory’s federal prosecutor with alleged corruption for a case involving a scheme to defraud the legislature using “ghost employees.” Federal prosecutor Rosa Emilia Rodríguez said 18 charges were brought against Ángel Figueroa Cruz, director of the Senate Office of Government Affair; Isoel Sánchez Santiago, an assistant to the Senate president; and Chrystal Robles Báez, a contractor to the body.

The purported scheme involved the accused billing the Senate for professional services that were never provided.
— Associated Press, 5/30/19

I’m sure you haven’t heard as much compared to the eager coverage Mayor Cruz enjoyed while attacking the president for not sending more money to the island. Here’s another reason why….

A mayor and two former government officials in Puerto Rico face public corruption charges in separate cases that involve a total of $8 million in federal and local funds, authorities said Thursday.

Note: whenever you hear “federal and local funds”, replace those words with “taxpayer dollars”.

Officials said former finance director Victor Cruz Quintero deposited some $2.5 million worth of funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development into the town’s general and payroll accounts in October 2014. Toa Baja’s former interim finance director, Angel Roberto Santos Garcia, is accused of making similar transactions worth $650,000 using funds from those two federal agencies.

Federal authorities said that Mayor Miguel Ortiz is accused of defrauding the federal government of nearly $3 million in a separate scheme that began in 2013 and ended in 2016. Officials said he is accused of financing projects without prior approval from Puerto Rico’s Department of Education and obtaining funds after misrepresenting the projects’ cost.
— New York Daily News, 7/7/19

And let’s not leave anyone out.

Puerto Rico’s former secretary of education and five other people have been arrested on charges of steering federal money to unqualified, politically connected contractors.

Federal officials said Wednesday that the FBI has arrested former Education Secretary Julia Keleher, former Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration head Ángela Ávila-Marrero, businessman Fernando Scherrer-Caillet and education contractors Glenda E. Ponce-Mendoza and Mayra Ponce-Mendoza. They face 32 counts of fraud and related charges.

The alleged fraud involves $15.5 million in federal funding between 2017 and 2019. Thirteen million was spent by the Department of Education during Keleher’s time as secretary, while $2.5 million was spent by the insurance administration when Ávila was the director.
— NBC News, 7/10/19

Let’s face it: Puerto Rico is run like your stereotypical, graft and corruption-laden banana republic and until they’re forced to clean up their act, they don’t deserve statehood, let alone any more taxpayer money from Americans.

UPDATE

Corruption appears to be so bad in Puerto Rico that it continues when you’d think reasonable people would lay low….

Ahsha Nateef Tribble, administrator of FEMA region 2 – in New York – and assigned to the emergency in Puerto Rico after the impact of hurricanes Irma and Maria, was arrested this morning in Florida for conspiracy to bribe public officials, electronic fraud and fraud to disaster funds, in relation to the contracts granted by the Electric Power Authority (PREPA) to the company Cobra Acquisitions, LLC.

Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) also arrested Donald Keith Ellison, former president of the company that was to work on the repair of the island’s electrical system; Jovanda R. Patterson, a former FEMA assistant assigned to San Juan, confirmed the head of federal prosecutor Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez during a press conference.
— El Nuevo Día (The New Day), 9/10/19

Next…?

UPDATE

While this is being initially being portrayed as gross incompetence, it could also be another case of Puerto Rico government official hoarding.

Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vazquez dismissed the island’s director of emergency management after a warehouse was discovered with supplies dating back to Hurricane Maria.

Video published Saturday showed a warehouse in the southwestern city of Ponce filled with supplies, including thousands of cases of water, believed to have been from when the hurricane struck the island in 2017. Carlos Acevedo, before his firing, said in a statement: “It is important to emphasize that no citizen has been denied any of the items found at this place.”

The person who took the video of inside the warehouse “violated the security perimeter,” he added.
— ABC News, 1/18/20

Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez fired two more officials in the most recent development since anger broke out over a viral video showing unused emergency supplies – allegedly left-over aid from Hurricane Maria – sitting in a warehouse in the southern coastal city of Ponce. Housing Secretary Fernando Gil and Department of Family Secretary Glorimar Andújar were dismissed Sunday.
— Fox News, 1/20/20

So, had it not been for the person who video documented the corruption, no one would know and Acevedo would still have his job.

Got’cha.

A police officer on the ground managed to call New York City’s La Mega 97.9 FM to express her emotional frustration of the San Juan mayor’s grandstanding while seemingly blowing off her duties; a sentiment echoed by others.

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz (“Popular Democratic Party”) has made the media rounds from CNN, MSNBC, and even the Washington Post to publicly bash the relief efforts of FEMA. Her comments that other mayors are experiencing similar frustrations are not in sync with reality.

“I don’t know why she is saying that”, said Angel Perez, Guaynabo Mayor. “She is not participating in any meetings. We had a couple already with the governors and with representation of FEMA and of HUD, these whole federal agencies that have given us help. We are receiving assistance from FEMA. I got people over here helping us with applications for the people that have damage in their houses.”

Mayor Perez echoed the sentiments of Richard Rossello, the governor of Puerto Rico, who praised President Trump for his rapid response to Puerto Rico’s aid requests.
— Daily Caller, 9/30/17

In other words, you don’t bite the hand that’s trying to feed you.

There are reportedly hundreds of containers full of much-needed supplies sitting idle at San Juan’s port and no truck drivers to distribute their contents where needed.

That’s hardly something that can be blamed on President Trump as the federal government can’t be held responsible for a local disaster plan in absentia.

A sight eerily similar to that flooded parking lot filled with school buses in New Orleans that sat idle instead of being used to evacuate the hundreds that had to sit out Hurricane Katrina.

One would hope that federal, state, and local entities would have plans prepared for that rare Act of God. It would also be reasonable to assume that amidst the chaos of a disaster aftermath, petty political differences would be sidelined and all hands would work together for the good of all affected. Sadly, as recently as Hurricane Katrina, some in power exercise poor judgment in planning-for and reacting-to tragedy.

That, again, appears to be too much to ask of Democrats and a media all too willing to score political points at the expense of the misery of thousands of whom they consistently look down upon as “ordinary people”. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz has shown she lacks the humility to manage her city as arrogance is not a leadership quality desired when her people need her most; people who will have power soon enough and will see how she conducted herself while they were in the dark.