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Ann Coulter and Geraldo Rivera clashed on Tuesday night over illegal immigration and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s controversial claim that Mexico is ”sending people that have lots of problems” to America. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” Trump said when announcing his candidacy. “They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” Coulter, who takes a hard line on illegal immigration, didn’t defend Trump directly but said she believes the government should be using...

It’s axiomatic that when a socialist regime hits the skids, the left will generally try to claim that such regime is ‘right wing’ somehow. Such claims can and will be completely irrational on their face, but for the national socialist Left it’s all about talking points and a simplistic ( but ‘superior’) mentality that favors headlines and shallow thought on the subject And before you complain that I dare use the word ‘national’ next to the word ‘socialist’ I would ask that you please explain in detail (with documentation) Just how in Hades’ the word national modifies the meaning of...

Puerto Rico is bankrupt. The key problem is that while municipalities can declare bankruptcy, states and territories cannot. President Barack Obama recognizes the problem. “No federal bailout for Puerto Rico” is the White House’s position. Instead, he urges Congress to pass a bill allowing Puerto Rico to declare bankruptcy. The Associated Press gives details: “The White House threw cold water Monday on the notion of bailing out Puerto Rico from its financial crisis, instead urging Congress to consider changing the law so the island can declare bankruptcy. “On the heels of a dismal economic report, Puerto Rico’s governor has warned...

Barack Obama says that we shouldn’t be alarmed by what is happening over in Greece. On Tuesday, he told reporters that this “is an issue primarily of concern to Europe” and that “I think the markets have properly factored in the risks involved“. And apparently Obama is not too concerned about the debt crisis in Puerto Rico either. In fact, the Obama administration has already completely ruled out any sort of federal bailout for the island. Barack Obama is assuring us that everything is going to be just fine and that we are not headed for another global financial crisis....

With the financial world transfixed by Greece's debt-driven meltdown, Puerto Rico announces it can't pay its $73 billion in debt. Once again, we're learning that welfare statism is no replacement for fiscal responsibility. Compared to Greece's $353 billion in debt, Puerto Rico's $73 billion doesn't sound so big. On a per capita basis, it's about a third less. But appearances deceive. Puerto Rico is in deep, owing actually much more than that amount. We learned this after a report on Monday, co-authored by former International Monetary Fund No. 2 Anne Krueger, revealed the island's finances are a shambles. The devastating...

As WLRN has reported this year, the U.S. commonwealth of Puerto Rico is staggering under $73 billion in debt. The Caribbean island’s governor is giving a speech this afternoon to announce it’s unpayable. And that could have a significant economic impact here in South Florida. How bad is Puerto Rico’s financial crisis? Its debt load equals three-fourths of its entire economy. Governor Alejandro García Padilla has conceded that Puerto Rico can no longer make payments on a debt that massive. Annual trade between Florida and Puerto Rico is about $2 billion. Bankruptcy attorney Charles Tatelbaum of the Fort Lauderdale law...

In a surprising last minute effort to solve his country's overwhelming financial crisis, Greek PM Tsipris proposed that his nation merge with US protectorate Puerto Rico. Tsipris said this would immediately solve Greece's financial problems, as Obama will no doubt soon move to bail out Puerto Rico, and Greece would, as part of the new nation, be included.

The governor of Puerto Rico said in a televised address Monday that the island cannot pay back more than $70 billion in debt, setting up an unprecedented financial crisis that could rock the municipal bond market and lead to higher borrowing costs for governments across the United States. “This is not about politics,” said Puerto Rico’s governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla. “It’s about math.” “The first step is to revive economic growth...We will never get out of this vicious cycle,” said Garcia Padilla. “But we need to do more—much more—to return to riches and to become more competitive and have an...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has said that he supports Puerto Rico filing for bankruptcy in the face of the massive debt the Caribbean island is facing. When Bush visited Puerto Rico, which is a U.S. territory, on a campaign stop in April, he told a crowd that the public agencies in Puerto Rico should be able to seek bankruptcy under Chapter 9, according to the Puerto Rico Report.

No, really? (smiley face) “The debt is not payable,” Mr. García Padilla said. “There is no other option. I would love to have an easier option. This is not politics, this is math.” Well I'll be damned. On the other side of the table, of course, are hedge funds that bought the debt when Puerto Rico got in trouble at a deep discount and expect 100 cents on the dollar. They're not inclined to bargain, and will now (of course) look to the government to hand them a gun to use on Padilla. Unfortunately that doesn't change the math either....

The governor of Puerto Rico has admitted that it can't keep paying down the over $72 billion worth of public debt obligations. As a result, it finds itself in a uniquely awful position. It can't go into bankruptcy according to its own laws, so now it has to deal exclusively with its creditors to restructure its debt. That means it has to deal with Wall Street. "I think the surprise was that it happened this quickly," said Brian Kelly, CEO of Connecticut-based fund Brian Kelly Capital. "We thought it would take 6 months to a year... the solution is a...

The governor of Puerto Rico told the New York Times that the island cannot pay back it's $72 billion debt and will seek permission from its creditors to defer payments. The news precedes an address by Governor Alejandro Garcia to the Puerto Rican legislature, where he will unveil a budget that cuts about $670 million from a $9.8 billion budget, while setting aside another $1.5 billion to pay the debt. Fox News: Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla's spokesman, Jesus Manuel Ortiz, confirmed that the island's government is seeking to defer payments while negotiating with creditors. He confirmed comments by Garcia that appeared...

Puerto Rico's governor believes the U.S. territory will not be able to pay back its $72 billion public debt, a spokesman told the Associated Press late Sunday. Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla's spokesman, Jesus Manuel Ortiz, confirmed that the island's government is seeking to defer payments while negotiating with creditors. He confirmed comments by Garcia that appeared in a report in The New York Times published late Sunday, less than a day before Garcia is scheduled to deliver a public address amid debate on a $9.8 billion budget that calls for $674 million in cuts and sets aside $1.5 billion to...

Like Greece, the Puerto Rican government has more debt than it can service, and some are calling for a bailout by U.S. taxpayers. The major Puerto Rican state-owned or controlled enterprises are all losing money, including the power authority which is insolvent. Puerto Rico is an American territory that was acquired from Spain in 1898 during the Spanish-American War. The island has a population of about 3.6 million, which is declining as many Puerto Ricans emigrate to the U.S. mainland or elsewhere because of the continuing economic stagnation. Puerto Ricans are American citizens, but their per capita income is about...

local court in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico this month issued a stern ruling that could end some of the strongest gun laws in the country. Taking control of Puerto Rico’s strict firearms statutes is Judge Lugo Anibal Irizarry, sitting in the Court of Salinas, who found the U.S. territory’s Ley de Armas unconstitutionally prohibitive and in violation of the Second Amendment as part of a class action lawsuit brought by 850 plaintiffs. As Irizarry’s 42-page (Spanish) ruling reads, explained by the Second Amendment Foundation, Puerto Ricans in the Commonwealth may now carry openly or concealed without a permit, and...

I apologize but the article is in Spanish, since Puerto Rico courts conducts business primarily in Spanish. Everything gets translated into English but it takes time. I have not found an English language news source that has covered this yet. So I'll give you a summary. The court that has handed the decision is a Puerto Rico Superior Court, which is two notches below the Puerto Rico Supreme Court. Puerto Rico has a very restrictive weapons permit legal scheme. The administrative requirements to obtain a permit even contradict the law itself, by keeping certain onerous requirements that existed prior to...

This morning Pope Francis told the bishops of Puerto Rico, in Rome on their ad limina visit, that the beauty of marriage between man and woman is threatened by the ideology of gender. He also urged them to emphasize family pastoral ministry in order to counteract serious social problems resulting from the assault on traditional family values. Noting that "so-called gender ideology" is challenging the complementarity between a man and a woman under the guise of seeking a more just society, the Holy Father said, "Let me to draw your attention to the value and beauty of marriage. The differences...

A US radio telescope has captured images of an enormous lava lake on the surface of Io, one of the moons orbiting the planet Jupiter, the Puerto Rico Astronomy Society (PRAS) reported. "The new images clearly show an enormous lake of lava, fed from the subsoil and which exists permanently," PRAS vice president, professor and scientist Armando Caussade said in a statement. The Large Binocular Telescope Observatory in Arizona was the one that spotted the mass of lava in the region known as Loki Patera, a volcanic pit measuring approximately 200 kilometers (124 miles) in diameter. PRAS spokesman Juan Villafañe...

Summary •Puerto Rico's borrowings represents an exceptionally complex set of credits in the (already arcane-enough) municipal bond market. •The Legislature's recent rejection of the Governor's tax reform proposal leaves fewer options to balance the budget and raises liquidity concerns. ~ snip ~ Puerto Rico released its most recent quarterly financial report on May 7. The report's list of risk factors includes the possibility of the Commonwealth running out of cash and defaulting on debt payments as soon as September. As organizations go, state and local governments are hideously illiquid. Even in the best of times, their political constituents do not...

Fresh off a setback on his tax reform plan, Puerto Rico's governor laid out a recovery roadmap on Thursday for the U.S. commonwealth's struggling finances. In his state of the Commonwealth address, Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla chastised the Puerto Rico House of Representatives for rejecting tax changes critical to his financial recovery plan, saying it made recovery harder but not impossible. Padilla said he will form a group of financial experts charged with improving Puerto Rico's liquidity and another to take on a reorganization of the government. He also released an agenda that calls for spending cuts in all government...