The trip around Puerto Rico, continued.

(Continued from the publication just below this one)
Anyway,  the puertoricano's  horse snorted at me and then left.  How can you say, Puerto is tropical, but its mountains toward the center of the island keep people cool.    There are places to see in la Puerto Rico.  After we passed through Ponce, we continued along the southern side of the island which faces the Carribbean Sea, and finally turned inland when we were as far west as San Juan, the island's capital.  We saw a rocky-sided lake with huge gray fish soaking in the fresh water, but they weren't biting that day.   We went on to Aricebo, the place where your Uncle Sam built giant radio-telescopes, where they can monitor the radiation waves and sounds from deep in space on radio-telescopes.   After that, we made fast pass-through near San Juan, and headed back to the Naval Base.  About halfway to the Naval Base from San Juan on their 4 lane highway, they had a wonder in saving law enforcement money--a flashing blue light on top of a telephone pole.  Of course, those seeing it for the first time slowed down to a crawl, afraid some puertoriccano cop would swoop down on them and hand them a ticket.  After I had made a few trips from the Naval base to San Juan, I learned to ignore that flashing blue light on the end of a telephone pole.   I enjoyed living on the Naval Base there for a year and a half, until it was time to return to the States.   Now I enjoy living in the States, here among the bluegrass.
      As a former resident of Puerto Rico, who lived with my wife and son in Puerto Rico, I hope that the expressed will of the people of Puerto Rico will be honored, and that they become the 51st State of the United States.  The belief in an America for more people and another State did not die in 1912, when Arizona and New Mexico attained Statehood.  Puerto Rico voiced support for Statehood in their recent election, and we should honor that by making Puerto Rico our Fifty First State.  Kenneth Stepp.  STEPP FOR KENTUCKY.  ELECT KENNETH STEPP TO CONGRESS, KY-05.  

los puertoriconos aqui!

Donald Trump: ‘Absolute No’ On Puerto Rican Statehood Bid If San Juan Mayor Stays

The president tore into Carmen Yulín Cruz and lamented that he never got a thank you for his response to Hurricane Maria.

By Hayley Miller

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President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he would not support Puerto Rico’s efforts to obtain statehood if San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz continued to hold office in the U.S. territory.

Speaking on Geraldo Rivera’s radio show, Trump called Yulín Cruz “grossly incompetent” and a “horror show” who could stand in the way of Puerto Rico being granted statehood.

“I will tell you this, with the mayor of San Juan as bad as she is and as incompetent as she is, Puerto Rico shouldn’t be talking about statehood until they get some people that really know what they’re doing,” Trump told Rivera.

“When you do have good leadership, that certainly could be something they talk about,” the president continued. “But with people like that involved in Puerto Rico, I would be an absolute no.”

Yulín Cruz, a vocal Trump critic, fired back at the president on Monday, tweeting that he had attacked her for “telling the truth.” She also argued that most Puerto Ricans aren’t in favor of statehood anyway.

More than 3 million U.S. citizens live in Puerto Rico, although they are not afforded many constitutional rights, such as voting in presidential elections, because of the island’s territorial status.

Congress is the only body with power to grant statehood, but many past presidents, including Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, have supported Puerto Rican statehood if that’s what the majority of the islanders wanted.

Puerto Rico’s pro-statehood political party won control of the local legislature, the governor’s mansion and the island’s non-voting congressional seat in 2016. In a June 2017 referendum, Puerto Ricans voted in favor of becoming the 51st U.S. state ― although less than a quarter of registered voters went to the polls, due in part to a boycott by the major parties opposing statehood.

In any case, efforts to obtain statehood have stalled in recent months.

Earlier this month, Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló reiterated his call for statehood while addressing the aftermath of last year’s back-to-back hurricanes.

“We are second-class U.S. citizens,” Rosselló told CBS News. “We live in a colonial territory. It is time to eliminate that. I implore all of the elected officials, particularly now with midterm elections, to have a firm stance: You’re either for colonial territories or against it. You’re either for giving equal rights to the U.S. citizens that live in Puerto Rico or you’re against it.” 

Since hurricanes Irma and Maria ravaged Puerto Rico last September, Trump and Yulín Cruz have repeatedly traded barbs in the media over the federal government’s response. While Trump downplayed the severity of the devastation in the days after Maria made landfall, Yulín Cruz frequently pleaded with the president to send additional aid.

“We are dying, and you are killing us with inefficiency and bureaucracy,” the mayor said at a news conference last September, days before Trump arrived for his first and only post-Maria visit to Puerto Rico. “I hope as the president comes next week, he doesn’t just get an aerial view of the situation. Let him hear the cries of elderly people outside windows and doors screaming, ‘Help us.’”

Rosselló raised the official death toll of Hurricane Maria from 64 to 2,975 last month following the release of a study on storm-related fatalities commissioned by the Puerto Rican government.

Still, Trump has insisted the federal government’s response to Hurricane Maria has been “under-appreciated” and was an “unsung success.”

On Sunday, he called into question the credibility of the study, as he has done several times since its release, claiming some Puerto Rican officials just wanted to “blame everything” on him.

“The truth is you have incompetent leadership and the mayor of San Juan is a grossly incompetent person,” he said. “I love the people of Puerto Rico. And I did a great job. I got things to Puerto Rico that nobody could have gotten. ... And instead of getting thank you, we got nothing but bad publicity.”

RELATED COVERAGE

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  Donald Trump Denies That 3,000 People Died In Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria
• San Juan Mayor Responds To Trump’s ‘Appalling’ Denial Of Puerto Rico Deaths 
  I used to live in la Puerto Rico.  My eldest son was born there, in the Naval Hospital at Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, near the puertoricanno town of Ceiba, Puerto Rico.    I was stationed in Puerto Rico for a year and a half as a Lieutenant (Junior Grade in the United States Navy.  One of the highlights of my life was one weekend when the Stepps and the Claires left the Navy base and went on a camping trip around the island.  First we headed South from the Naval Base and went through Ponce, Puerto Rico--which has the colorful firehouse there with the fire trucks parked inside.  Then it was on around the Southern end of the island.  We found a farmer's fieldor meadow to pitch camp in.  Around midnight, I heard a snorating and blowing sound, and it was just the farmer's horse making its rounds, and investigating the yanquis sleeping in the farmer's field.  [continued in next blog].
• Hurricane Maria Took Almost Everything From Them. Now They Fear A Future Storm.

Congress, don't let Trump usurp your power over trade! by Robert B. Zoellick. "Congress should reassert its constitutional authority over trade. To start, lawmakers should insist on their prerogative to decide whether to retain the North American Free Trade Agreement or adopt President Trump's proposed replacement. Congress passed Nafta in 1993 after a major debate and enacted legislation to implement it. Members should remind the president that the executive's role does not extend to overriding Congress's votes and statutes. Article I of the Constitution grants Congress the authority 'to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations' Congress, don't let Trump usurp your power over trade! by Robert B. Zoellick.r.

Congress, don't let Trump usurp your power over trade!

by Robert B. Zoellick.

          "Congress should reassert its constitutional authority over trade.  To start, lawmakers should insist on their prerogative to decide whether to retain the North American Free Trade Agreement or adopt President Trump's proposed replacement.

          Congress passed Nafta in 1993 after a major debate and enacted legislation to implement it.  Members should remind the president that the executive's role does not extend to overriding Congress's votes and statutes.  Article I of the Constitution grants Congress the authority 'to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations' and 'to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises.'  Congressional conservatives concerned about the overreach of the administrative state should not permit the executive to bypass Congress's own determinations.  Congress has authority to hold on to NAFTA or vote for a new deal."   The Wall Street Journal, p. A17, Sept. 4, 2018.

      Kenneth Stepp agrees with the Wall Street Journal editorial page that Congress has the authority to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations.  Also, Congress, not the President, has the authority to declare war.   Vote for a strong Congress.  Elect Kenneth Stepp to the U.S. House KY-05 in November.

Congress, don't let Trump usurp your power over trade! by Robert B. Zoellick.

Congress, don't let Trump usurp your power over trade!
by Robert B. Zoellick.
          "Congress should reassert its constitutional authority over trade.  To start, lawmakers should insist on their prerogative to decide whether to retain the North American Free Trade Agreement or adopt President Trump's proposed replacement.
          Congress passed Nafta in 1993 after a major debate and enacted legislation to implement it.  Members should remind the president that the executive's role does not extend to overriding Congress's votes and statutes.  Article I of the Constitution grants Congress the authority 'to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations' and 'to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises.'  Congressional conservatives concerned about the overreach of the administrative state should not permit the executive to bypass Congress's own determinations.  Congress has authority to hold on to NAFTA or vote for a new deal."   The Wall Street Journal, p. A17, Sept. 4, 2018.
      Kenneth Stepp agrees with the Wall Street Journal editorial page that Congress has the authority to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations.  Also, Congress, not the President, has the authority to declare war.   Vote for a strong Congress.  Elect Kenneth Stepp to the U.S. House KY-05 in November.

Contact Information.

You can mail checks to STEPP FOR KENTUCKY, P. O. Box 1271, Manchester, Kentucky  40962.
My email is kenneth_stepp@yahoo.com.   I am on facebook at several places, including STEPP FOR KENTUCKY.   I have blogspots at www.steppforcongress.blogspot.com    and  a-democratic.blogspot.com.    I'm at the Kenneth Stepp and Kenneth S.Stepp Facebook pages more than the other .   In Twitter, I'm at @ppetsnek.com
Kenneth Stepp