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Democrats have cynically dined out for years on the false narrative that President Trump was always trying to hold down Puerto Rico. He hasn't resigned as the hundreds of thousands in the streets are demanding, saying he wants to finish his term before leaving with no re-election run, and that hasn't stopped the protests. In fact, they are going on full blast right now. He cheated them, he enriched himself, like his mentor Hillary Clinton, he effectively called them deplorables, and they were the ones who had to suffer the hurricane damage because of his Clintonesque contempt for them. Conclusion?...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló announced his resignation Wednesday days after demonstrators at the island's largest protest in recent history called for his ouster over a scandal involving leaked private chats as well as corruption investigations and arrests.

(CNN)Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló is expected to resign Wednesday after more than a week of protests that rocked the island's capital city, a source familiar with the situation told CNN. Thousands have jammed the streets of San Juan calling for the governor's resignation after Puerto Rico's Center for Investigative Journalism published a series of group messages between the governor and his inner circle that included homophobic and misogynistic language and jokes about Hurricane Maria victims. Demonstrators were determined to stay on the streets until Rosselló stepped down, fed up with years of government corruption, high poverty rates, crushing debt...

The interview is with Shep but you should see it anyway. Devastating.

Breaking News: Syrian air defenses engaging targets early Monday morning in Hama province near Masayaf in northwestern Syria.... The Iranian Foreign Minister pointing at outside forces being behind the British seizure of an Iranian oil tanker off Gibraltar earlier this month that led to Iran's seizure of a British oil tanker Friday... "It's clear they're glorifying a violent assault on Tommy Robinson designed only to desensitize the public in case he's murdered in there. They don't want you to care" That's the message from Tommy Robinson's spokesman Avi Yemeni in response to Sunday tabloid reports..... The Battle of Brexit and...

You all know by now that I’m into beauty pageants given that I grew up in Puerto Rico, aside from the fact that my best friend’s daughter is the current Miss Puerto Rico. She’ll be participating in the Miss Universe Pageant in December 2019. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts about this subject, Donald Trump has been to the island numerous times and we got to know him quite well when he was the owner of Miss Universe, Inc. Previous post about Trump’s pageant organizational skills: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3763583/posts People call President Trump a “Racist”, which is so untrue. I’ve just analyzed...

President Trump on Thursday ripped the embattled governor of Puerto Rico, joining a growing chorus of critics that includes entertainer Ricky Martin and Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora. The commander-in-chief also took a shot at San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, whom he has feuded with since Hurricane Maria devastated the US commonwealth in September 2017. “A lot of bad things are happening in Puerto Rico. The Governor is under siege, the Mayor of San Juan is a despicable and incompetent person who I wouldn’t trust under any circumstance, and the United States Congress foolishly gave 92 Billion Dollars...

Thousands of Puerto Ricans gathered Wednesday in the commonwealth capital of San Juan to demand the resignation of Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, the second mass demonstration against the embattled leader this week. Waving Puerto Rican flags -- some in black and gray to signal their discontent with the government -- and chanting demands that Rosselló step down, demonstrators of every age group said they were fed up with the corruption of elected officials as well as crippling austerity measures that have scaled back necessary services in recent years. The crowd included pop star Ricky Martin and reggaeton artists Benito Martinez Ocasio...

Royal Caribbean canceled stops in San Juan on at least two of its cruises, affecting passengers on Empress of the Seas and Harmony of the Seas. Some passengers took to Twitter to complain, while others praised the cruise line for taking the safety of their passengers so seriously. Residents in Puerto Rico, still struggling from damage caused by Hurricane Maria, are calling for the resignation of Gov. Ricardo Rossello after the release of approximately 889 pages of private messages in which he allegedly used homophobic and misogynistic language, Newsweek reported. In a statement to Fox News, a spokesperson for Royal...

(SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico) — Nearly two years ago, Hurricane María exposed the raw dysfunction of Puerto Rico, collapsing long-neglected infrastructure and leaving several thousand dead on Gov. Ricardo Rosselló’s watch. Last week, two of his top former officials were arrested by the FBI on corruption charges. But the scandal that is threatening to buckle the boyish 40-year-old governor centers on a profanity-laced and at times misogynistic online chat with nine other male members of his administration in which some of the U.S. territory’s most powerful men act like a bunch of teenagers. The leak of at least 889 pages...

MIAMI — A political crisis engulfed Puerto Rico over the weekend, prompting the departure of two senior members of the government and threatening Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló, who found himself increasingly isolated in office and no longer supported by leaders of his own party. Mr. Rosselló’s administration was rocked by the publication of a trove of derisive messages sent by the governor and some of his cabinet members and top aides in a private chat on the messaging app Telegram. The messages mocked political foes and allies alike, often with profanity. On Saturday, the governor tried to contain the fallout...

After a week of criminal corruption indictments and a bizarre leak of the Governor's inner circle private chat channel, an unprecedented collapse of the island government is unfolding at this moment. The Puerto Rico Mayors Federation, a group that organizes the island mayors belonging to the governing New Progressive Party, has given a vote of no confidence to the government of Ricardo Rossello. Municipal mayors constitute the base of power for any island wide office holder, and this withdrawal of endorsement signifies the end of Rossello's political viability. Rossello has fired everyone involved in the now infamous Telegram app chat...

My dear friend's daughter was just crowned Miss Puerto Rico last month and she'll be participating in the Miss Universe Pageant in December. All we know is that the pageant is in December - we don't know the date nor the location. Some say it'll be in Las Vegas or South Korea. This is a total lack of planning and organization. When Trump was head of the Miss Universe Organization, a few Puerto Ricans won the crown under his watch, so we got to know him well in the beauty pageant world because he came down to the island with...

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló — whose administration has been roiled by a corruption probe – has apologized for calling former City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito a “whore” and telling a federal board overseeing the island’s finances to “go f— yourself.” Rosselló made the comments in leaked text messages published by local newspaper Primera Hora after the FBI arrested former top officials in his government on corruption charges. In one private chat, he used the Spanish word for “whore” to describe Mark-Viverito – and in another told the Fiscal Oversight Board established by Congress to oversee the territory’s finances to...

The FBI on Wednesday arrested two former senior officials who served in the administration of Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, leading the chairman of the House committee that oversees Puerto Rico to call for the governor to step down. The arrests also spurred concerns on Capitol Hill about the billions of dollars in aid that Congress has approved for the island. The federal indictment says the former officials illegally directed federal funding to politically connected contractors. The arrests come about a month after Congress approved a controversial disaster aid bill that earmarked additional funding for Puerto Rico’s recovery from Hurricane...

After weeks of anticipation the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) arrested former secretary of the Department of Education of Puerto Rico, Julie Keleher, and former director of Health Insurance Administration, Angela Avila. Other former contractors of the Puerto Rican Government under the Department of Education and Health Insurance Administration were also arrested. Among them, the director of the consulting firm BDO, Fernando Scherer, and BDO subcontractor Alberto Velazquez Piñol. Keleher and other former contractors for Education in Puerto Rico were arrested in Washington DC. Keleher and Avila had submitted their resignations from the Rossello Nevares Administration as recent as april...

After border patrol agents in Puerto Rico chased after a boat on Sunday, they found five duffel bags stuffed with $3.7 million in cash. US Customs and Border Protection agents, along with the DEA, made the seizure after tracking the vessel that was traveling without lights from Puerto Rico to the US Virgin Islands. As authorities followed the boat, it made an abrupt turn back toward Fajardo, on the east coast of Puerto Rico, and landed near the Rio Fajardo. Occupants in the vessel could be seen unloading bags, according to the press release. As agents closed in, they fled...

The 18-month-old girl slipped from his arms and fell from the 11th floor of Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas ship. The child is believed to have fallen onto the concrete below while the ship was docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The tot was rushed to hospital at around 4:30 p.m. local time yesterday. According to the local Primer Hora website, the girl was from Indiana and on holiday with her parents and grandparents. The girl's family have not yet been quizzed by detectives but police have said they believe the incident was a tragic accident. "At one point,...

A two year old small child reportedly died today after falling from deck 11 while the Royal Caribbean cruise ship was in port in San Juan. The ship was reportedly docked at the Pan American dock II in San Juan. There are conflicting information regarding the circumstances of the tragedy. One source (translated) states that the child “peeked into one of the windows that was open and fell,” and another newspaper reports that the child “was in the arms of his grandfather who slipped and fell.” The police in San Juan are reportedly investigating the accident. There have been relatively...

A Delta Air Lines pilot arrested a passenger on board a flight from Puerto Rico to New York after the man shouted “I am God” and claimed he would save the world, forcing the plane to return to the airport in San Juan, Puerto Rican police said on Wednesday. Puerto Rican police then took custody of a man identified as Carlos Ramirez, 30, and the case was taken over by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, police said in a statement. The suspect “was aggressive and shouted ‘I am God, San Juan is going to disappear tomorrow, I came to...