Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló recently announced that he is taking steps to privatize the island’s Power Authority (Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or PREPA). Anyone else thinking of Naomi Klein’s “Shock Doctrine”? Petra Bartosiewicz has a piece in Harper’s Magazine detailing the situation leading up to the bankrupt condition of the agency and the current issues with which it must contend, and was recently interviewed on The Real News network. If Puerto Rico were a state rather a commonwealth, more opportunities would exist for dealing with the kinds of crises that the island is facing. But Vox’s Christina Thornell reminds us that the decision on statehood status for Puerto Rico is not up to the residents of Puerto Rico.   [Read more…]

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel who lost both of her legs in the Iraq War, addresses the Senate regarding a recent tweet by Trump (Cadet Bonespurs) impugning the Democrats’ concern for the Military. This, despite Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) having introduced a resolution that would have secured pay for service members during a shutdown, and having the resolution blocked by Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). As Shareblue notes, this is in contrast to how in 2013, President Barack Obama signed legislation that ensured military pay would continue, uninterrupted by that year’s shutdown — which was also engineered by Republicans in Congress.   [Read more…]