Will Anyone Ever Speak Up For Puerto Rico?

Carol Guzy via ZUMA

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From Sarah Palin:

Well, I’m sure Puerto Ricans appreciate the sentiment. But considering that their island has been almost literally demolished, and electricity will be out for months, I’ll bet they’d appreciate a concrete expression of concern even more. Like maybe heading up a huge fundraising drive. Or maybe this from our president:

Puerto Ricans are American citizens just like the rest of us, and their home has been devastated beyond comprehension by Hurricane Maria. Tomorrow I will ask Congress to pass an emergency $10 billion bill to provide temporary housing throughout the island and to rebuild following the devastation. I expect this to have bipartisan support and to pass by the end of the week. It will take time to ramp up this effort, so in the meantime I have ordered the military to begin rescue and resupply missions as its top priority. This is what Americans expect from their government, and we won’t rest until the job is done.

Yeah, I know. Trump doesn’t have time for this because he’s too busy stirring up outrage over the protests of black athletes. What a goddam embarrassment he is.

Maybe it’s time for Democratic leadership to say something. I imagine they’ve been relatively quiet because they don’t want to turn this into a partisan affair, but they’ve waited long enough. If Republicans would rather waste their time on a doomed and horrible health bill instead of helping three million American citizens who have lost everything, it’s up to Chuck and Nancy to lead the charge in their place.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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