HUD Secretary Ben Carson has been illegally withholding aid to Puerto Rico for months

[babylonsister]

HUD Secretary Ben Carson has been illegally withholding aid to Puerto Rico for months
SemDem
Community
Saturday December 07, 2019 · 2:03 PM EST


The Department of Housing and Urban Development, under Ben Carson, had a legally required deadline back in September to make desperately needed hurricane relief funding available to the suffering American island. The housing agency was supposed to issue funding notices to 18 states and territories affected by hurricanes on Sept. 4. They did so with one exception: Puerto Rico.

President Donald Trump tosses paper towels into a crowd as he hands out supplies at Calvary Chapel, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017, in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. Trump is in Puerto Rico to survey hurricane damage. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Trump throws paper towels to Maria survivors

Donald Trump and Ben Carson are refusing to release the aid in direct opposition to the congressional mandate. HUD officials even told the House Appropriations subcomittee that they just won’t do it. Not only did HUD officials admit that they are willfully defying the law, but they also admitted that they have “no statutory authority” to miss such a deadline.

So why are they doing it? Because laws don’t matter in Trumpland, and Trump hates Puerto Rico.

Just as Trump does with California, another place he hates, where in the past two years raging wildfires have killed 87 people and burned more than 2.15 million acres. Trump is now threatening to withhold federal aid for firefighters for no other reason than his animosity towards the state and its people. The official reason Trump gives is that they wouldn’t listen to his brilliant idea of “raking the forests,” which is along the same lines of his idea of nuking hurricanes. It’s a stupid idea from an uneducated man. Yet the real reason is hatred.

more...

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/12/7/1904072/-Ben-Carson-has-been-illegally-withholding-aid-to-Puerto-Rico-for-months

[still_one]

1. and he is a physician

[TexasBushwhacker]

2. And Jesus' bestie

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[trusty elf]

36. Bentriloquist

[AllyCat]

39. Haha!

Perfect!

[spanone]

3. who ARE these people?

[lastlib]

34. Just evil futhermuckers.

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Lawless vermin--ALL of 'em!!! Hang 'em all!

[procon]

4. Ben Carson didn't make that decision on his own.

Trump the racist had to get his pound of flesh from the hurricane victims. He retaliated because the people criticized his response and failed to provide adequate assistance to the islands.

[struggle4progress]

5. Impeach Carson

[rickyhall]

6. The goddamned GOP...

Consists of some of the sorriest motherfuckers since the Nazis & the Soviets.

[Wawannabe]

12. You said it!

Brava!!!

[AllaN01Bear]

16. impeach the entere r senate , the executive branch, all appointed cabinet posts,

all r scoutus appointed judges on down. we need to focus on the senate and the prez.

[SunSeeker]

7. K & R for exposure.

[Evolve Dammit]

8. Lock him up too! What a miserable person. The picture of him and Jesus sums it up.

Another delusional, self-anointed a-hole.

[debsy]

9. We need to hold these people (or should i say SCUMBAG CRIMINALS) accountable somehow.

We need a many million person march on Washington. It is time for us all to sacrifice some time and effort in order to save our country. The REPUKES are unreachable by phone and hide from We The People. They are greedy, unscrupulous, cowards and need to be thrown out of Washington DC on their asses!

[2naSalit]

10. This whole gang of thugs need to be arrested.

The only one whi has to be impeached is magaman, everyone else can be removed by arresting and jailing until trial.

[hot2na]

11. Any Quid Pro Quo's involved?

In other words more bribery, extortion, grifting, corruption, etc., etc.

[moondust]

13. Lock them up!

Incentivize lawful behavior!

[oasis]

14. Ben Carson is a disgrace to humanity. nt

[Marthe48]

15. The House is talking about withholding money to run HUD

Here is a link where that is mentioned at the very bottom: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/house-democrats-slam-trump-admin-illegally-withholding-puerto-rico-hurricane-n1096421

The money has been on hold for 3 months. I know other criminal activities are going on, but why in the hell do the victims of a hurricane have to keep suffering because trump is such a *************************? I hate his guts and I don't pray for him.

[Maraya1969]

31. Can the House hold up money for something that would affect his sorry ass???

Like where does the allocations come from for his damn golf trips?

[Marthe48]

38. Yeah, ground the mf

if he wants to leave and play golf, he pays out of his own pocket. That's something the government ought to tighten up when we get some sanity back.

[DanieRains]

17. Nancy I Pray Donald Trump Someday Gets What He Truly Deserves

Please God....

[OhNo-Really]

42. The Speaker Prayers

[Demovictory9]

18. weaponizing the fed govt

[paleotn]

19. Smells like another impeachment charge.

[Marcuse]

20. Do you remember Professor Karlan's impeachment hearing hypothetical?

“Imagine living in a part of Louisiana or Texas that's prone to devastating hurricanes and flooding. What would you think if you lived there and your governor asked for a meeting with the president to discuss getting disaster aid that Congress has provided for? What would you think if that president said, 'I would like you to do us a favor? I'll meet with you, and send the disaster relief, once you brand my opponent a criminal.”

https://mediaproxy.salon.com/width/1200/height/1200/

He might not do it to Louisiana or Texas, but he did it to Puerto Rico out of pure hatred. He didn’t even try to solicit a bribe.

[link:https://www.businessinsider.com/pamela-karlan-impeachment-witness-texas-analogy-trump-ukraine-scandal-2019-12|

[renate]

25. Exactly!

Just one more impeachment-worthy thing that will be forgotten by next week.

[Blue_true]

21. Puerto Ricans are US citizens.

They can get back at those rat bastards. Migrate to Florida and Georgia and Texas in massive numbers, register to vote then vote against that bastard. No one can legally stop them from doing that because just like us, they have the freedom to move to anywhere in this country.

[CozyMystery]

27. The problem with moving is that it costs money...

not just to move, but to set up a new life. Costs of living are different, depending on where someone moves. So is the availability of decent jobs. Where I live, jobs are a joke. They do not pay well at all, and it is very difficult to find full-time work. Nearly every job is part-time without benefits.

The cost is more than money, including leaving behind family and friends and careers and jobs and perhaps even a place that you love.

Edited to add, as a long-winded aside: Getting used to a different culture is difficult, too. I've had to do it. As an Air Force Brat, and as an adult. It was hard to transition from living in Germany on base to moving to Montgomery, AL, in 1965. My mother was German, so my experience both times we lived in Germany was fuller than most.

I was a child when we moved to Alabama, and I remember the day my mother was so excited because the KKK was having a town-wide family picnic. It was announced on huge billboards and sounded like it would be a lot of fun. Then one of her friends told her what the KKK was. And we all learned more about civil rights and the Selma March, and it was horrifying to find out about how life was in the U.S. For me, especially in schools I had to attend (civilian schools), both when the were segregated, and during the first couple of years they were integrated.

It was easier, but still difficult, when my dad retired, and our family entered civilian life. Culture shock, totally.

Culture shock also wasn't much fun when I moved to Boston from Atlanta as an adult. That came as a surprise, after all I was still in the same country.

That said, when I first started researching countries to move to from the US in late 2016, culture shock never entered my mind. But it exists, in spades, according to the recent ex-pat research I've done.

And it is scary to move to a new place. It sounds exciting (at least to me), but there is always the worry about what if I'm jumping from the frying pan into the fire by doing so.

I was reading an article in Der Spiegel the other day, which stated that 57% of former GDR citizens want to go back to living in the GDR. 57%! Until Reunification, my mother's family lived in the GDR. We visited when I was a child, and the Red Cross waited at the border to take my sister and I back to our father in case my mother got arrested for having escaped 10 years earlier. And the rules! We were not allowed to speak in public, we were not allowed to talk about the U.S. or anything involving the U.S. This was in case we said something that would be reported to the authorities and lead to my mother's and/or our family members being arrested.

Reading this article and others put my eagerness to live in Germany on pause.

Quick facts on Puerto Rico: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/PR

[Blue_true]

28. Yes, I know. But it would be nice. I recently found out that

there are more Hispanics in my mild red county than Blacks. What I don't know is whether they are Cuban strain or from Mexico, Central and South America.

[CozyMystery]

32. In my deep red county, 96% are white...

and where I live (county seat) I rarely see anyone who does not appear to be 100% white. This so-called city is 97% white. Blacks = 1.3%. Hispanics must be categorized in "other", which is 0.4%.

It is freaking weird to live in a place like this. Not my choice (moved here at husband's behest with 4 children, 10 years ago).

[Blue_true]

43. Wow.

The whitest county near me is about 83% White. When I was a student at the University of Florida, I could tell the kids that came from very pure White areas, they stood out like sore thumbs.

Did you husband move back to be closer to family or a better job?

[CozyMystery]

44. Job-related move

We are about 45 minutes away from an actual city.

[Blue_true]

45. That likely explains why your area is so White.

Rural areas or areas with small towns tend to be whiter.

[Blue Owl]

22. No grain for their pyramids

n/t

[trusty elf]

35. ...

[SalmonChantedEvening]

23. They enjoy watching the suffering.

It's part of the policy. Nothing is a bug, it's all a feature.

[uponit7771]

24. PUT ... THEIR ... ASSES ... IN ... JAIL !!! Start procedure in the house to lock them up NOW and ...

... make them sue to get out.

Fuck that, "it takes too long" is a piss poor reason not to enforce laws of the land.

[Garrett78]

26. They're just horrible people.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212757711

Some insist that it would be a real shame if there was no more Republican Party and that most Republicans are decent, honorable people...those folks are just plain wrong and borderline delusional.

[democratisphere]

29. Welcome to our American Dictatorship!

Impeach them all!

[Maraya1969]

30. Can this be added to the articles of impeachment for Trump? I know it is an abuse

of power but there must be other constitutional laws that he is breaking here.

[Fritz Walter]

40. Like maybe "Obstruction of Congress"?

[keithbvadu2]

33. Ironic. Ben denying PRs aid because they are not white enough.

Ironic.

Ben denying PRs aid because they are not white enough.

[eShirl]

37. "Whaddaya gonna do about it?" -thug dictator minion