#thejonesact

Do we understand foreign & domestic policy? Not when we have time for The #NFL & not to research. Magical Melanin Rich Lands receive the most sanctions. No accident!! Thx Mia!!! #Repost @themamamiax ・・・ They are starving. They have limited food and drinking water. Most of the power is out. The news channels are talking about the delays of getting supplies. The world is insane hand heartless right now. America biggest concern is taking a knee not the reasoning behind it. Puerto Rico is suffering. Flints water is still fucked up. And some people are moving as if all is well. Don't get blindsided..... Look around. Pay attention for your own good. #TheJonesAct #AdmiraltyLaw #PuertoRico #USTerritory #HurricaneRelief

@dixiehensrud @Regrann from @tattle_tailzz - #HurricaneMaria was the most powerful storm to hit #PuertoRico in more than 80 years. It left the entire island without electricity, which may take six months to restore. It toppled trees, shattered windows, tore off roofs and turned streets into rivers throughout the island.President Trump declared that “Puerto Rico was absolutely obliterated” and issued a federal disaster declaration. But the United States needs to do more. It needs to suspend the Jones Act in Puerto Rico.After World War I, America was worried about German U-boats, which had sunk nearly 5,000 ships during the war. Congress enacted the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, a.k.a. the #JonesAct, to ensure that the country maintained a shipbuilding industry and seafaring labor force. Section 27 of this law decreed that only American ships could carry goods and passengers from one United States port to another. In addition, every ship must be built, crewed and owned by American citizens.Almost a century later, there are no U-boats lurking off the coast of Puerto Rico. The Jones Act has outlived its original intent, yet it is strangling the island’s economy.Under the law, any foreign registry vessel that enters Puerto Rico must pay punitive tariffs, fees and taxes, which are passed on to the Puerto Rican consumer. The foreign vessel has one other option: It can reroute to Jacksonville, Fla., where all the goods will be transferred to an American vessel, then shipped to Puerto Rico where — again — all the rerouting costs are passed through to the consumer.Thanks to the law, the price of goods from the United States mainland is at least double that in neighboring islands, including the United States Virgin Islands, which are not covered by the Jones Act. Moreover, the cost of living in Puerto Rico is 13 percent higher than in 325 urban areas elsewhere in the United States, even though per capita income in Puerto Rico is about $18,000, close to half that of Mississippi, the poorest of all 50 states.This is a shakedown, a mob protection racket, with Puerto Rico a captive market. Via @gwendolynterani @bornillegal #thejonesact - #regrann