As a local, that area is SUPER dangerous. You really need to know how it works. There is a reason why San Juan was never captured via the water; three forta shooting at you in a cross formation and the bleeding currents that basically turned ANY ship into a, more less, sitting duck.

Some people don't listen to advice.

Albert

Our government and people can endorse aliens or your favorite demi-god as president anywhere. It means jack. It is sad that, as a Nation, the US does not know what or who we are and they invaded and took as booty 120 years ago.

We are just some kind of other mexicans or Democrats in potentia to be drowned slowly. We cannot vote for the president or any form of idiot with voting power in the Federal government.

Trump conned a lot of people and the government of puerto rico back in the day when he secured a deal to create jobs building an all inclusive resort. Still owes millions to the government. After Katrina he just went down there and threw some paper towel rolls at people. Treating fellow americans as you would chicken or idiots.

That inbred streak of piss should be minced slowly, feet first. That goes for his local (Puerto Rican) backers too.

This is as useless as raising the minimum wage and leave it at that. The market will adapt very fast to drain those funds because they can. Our governments must install some kind of buffer zone/policy to allow people some breathing room. They must also institute some kind of education program for people to teach them how to manage their money better.

Wishful thinking, I know, but it is what we lack. The current system is to produce money to dump it back into the market even at the expense of the people at the bottom. Health Care, as far as I have experienced so far, is only interested in maintenance not fixing, for example. Housing market only knows how to increase rents and mortgages. Is crazy that so many people live on the streets even with a full time job.

I do not think that providing free anything is productive in general terms, but here I agree that, universal income has to be realistically studied and implemented.
  The market changes too much and to fast, at present, and people have very little or no time to spend in picking up those new skills that will let them stay relevant.
Working hard is fine but is even better to work intelligently. If you do not train properly, people will work their bones off and still do shitty work.
Most of the places I have worked at, in the recent times, have thrown me any other new employee, into the fire and I've had to survive as best I could. Although I understand why this is done, it is counter productive. A well trained employee will always be of more value to you. Will every employee make it even so? Of course not but you will also waste the opportunity find out if that particular employee would have excelled somewhere else in your enterprise.

But I digress, if our society does not create some kind of buffer or floor where everything else stands on, then raising minimum wage or setting things like universal income will offer nothing for the people that actually make the wealth for this economy. They/we need to have a fallback position. If your job is not working for you, then you need to move on, but you can't cuz you barely make enough to cover necessities as it is let alone to save some $$ to be able to do a restart on your career. Never mind health care or other necessities like food and safe place to sleep.

This is, in the end, a hollow move. no essence and no value.

Albert

I currently work for an Indian Tech Services company. There might be very brilliant people there but I've yet to meet many (if any) Is the culture. They seem to be fixated into a single track of thinking and it is very hard to make one take a look from a different angle. What is so wrong with many of them coming in and taking our jobs? If we suck, we deserve it. They will accept less money for the same position? Sure, cuz they do not know better. The crappy ones will die out and the good ones will say fuck this and move on. Either way, if you keep yourself relevant, then you will always have work.

And i subscribe to this idea. Now, the real thing that you need to ask is, who is to blame, when all is said and done? Is not really then immigrant. He/she just wants a better life for their family and are eager to take a job you or me wont take. Why is that? Is beneath us; we went to college and deserve better, the pay is low, too much work, too harsh working conditions, and the list goes on and it includes the mentality that reads as:"fuck that, I am going to be a (musician/blogger/youtuber/hit the lotto, choose which ever) and won't need that job! You wait and see. Which is the worst of all the excuses but the most prevalent.

We were a country that, if you worked really hard, you could actually pull your self out of the gutter. You can still do it, if your are a fraud or have very good friends. I was a Poultry and then a wood products production supervisor for the better part of four years and you know who came in to work everyday? The i-can't-speak-English-for-the-life-of-me crowd. The locals (be it white, black or anything in between) would stay long enough to fool whatever agency they needed to or left as soon as their tax money was up.

Of course, there were always exceptions on both sides. Some Hispanics did leave or were plain bad workers. Then again, some of the Americans that did come in worked really hard and, although they expected to rise through the ranks and got heated when that did not happen fast enough, were always eager to work, do it good and tried their best to be useful.

I've read this somewhere, but it is true. If you are complaining that Juan Pendejo is gunning for your job but all you do is drink beer and lounge around, then is your own fault. their is plenty of work out there to be done. Juan Pendejo ain't taking no Neuro-Surgery jobs any time soon. Most barely know Spanish (many of the older generation speak variations of Maya or some Native Central-American Tribe Language) let alone know enough English to be a threat to anyone here.

Why are they still hired? Companies take advantage. At one place I worked at, the company did little direct hiring. They used an Agency that, as told to me by one of my line-men, would get the counterfeit docs and socials for them and put them to work for an upfront fee. My company then chest thumped themselves saying that they did their absolute best to prevent illegals from working under false papers. Yeah, right, as if the HR people did not recognize Carlos Pendejo as Junior Pendejo or Juanito Hostia that came in to work for a year jumping from one name to the other after the courts started demanding child support. Management knew but went along with the game because they could not find cheaper labor.

It is our own fault. I am a third generation American and my great Grand Parents were forced into Americanhood. Not liking that fact but nevertheless I am an American and hate the way these people come in to the country. Not the least because they put themselves in undue danger for their lives and of their families but also because it continues to foment a slave trade. We are the most powerful and richest nation in the world, we can do better than this shytte. We need to stop pointing fingers when all we have to do is look in the mirror to find the fault bearer.

Nah. The working classes need the help. Companies do not need to eat. Yes people work for those companies but they will toss their workers, and do so routinely, out the window without a thought other than their bottom line. Let them die. Other will come later. There are many billionaires out there.

err...crap, messed up...guilty until proven innocent... sorry...

Is the same dude. The rest is just a-hagling over the price. Would you kill for one dollar? or for one Million? I would kill rapists at a drop of a hat for free. But would shed tears if killed a rat that i just wanted to scare. Sheesh, grow some humanity.

No matter the reason, the ladies or dudes deserve respect. Even if what they did was consensual at the time, people evolve and change. I used to smoke, now I don't. Would I prefer people not smoke beside me? Sure, but then again, I can just move down the road.

Do these people want her old shytte running loose around? Probably not. So, is their prerogative to say no. Would you consent for me to slap you until silly? Probably not (maybe you do, you just don't know with some people) But what if i just came after you and started slapping you, would you like it? would you like me posting photos or blogs testifying about the slapping you used to have and still get from time to time?

So in the end, for whatever reason, they get to say no. System should be, yes, guilty until proven guilty. In this case, I am all for adjudicating on the side of caution. I have a daughter, sister, mother, aunts, cousins, etc. anyone could become a victim. even you and me. Although, anyone who publishes me and my doings buttnaked is a deranged entity best fit for the crappier types of b-horror movies.

Which wage median are we talking about here? in the last five years the only upgrades to my salary have come from me. All the people i know are on the same boat. So again, which salaries are we talking about? I'm not even going to comment on the unemployment levels.

Albert

"Evil starts when you start thinking of people as things. There are worst things, but that's where it starts." -- Terry Pratchett

Cooking...well the thing about doing stuff yourself is about appreciation. I like coffee and drink copious amounts, usually of very bad coffee. That is because those who brew it do not CARE at all. A simple fare like scrambled eggs can be horrible if done by someone who does not care about it. If the cook appreciates a good plate, i assure you, that whatever it is, it will be decent if not right down delicious.

To those buying organic stuff, well USDA rules for organic are crap plus Monsanto has made it so that most likely even well cared and "organic" food is still contaminated with their crap.

Just try to buy local in season stuff, it may cost a little more at face value but you can usually make a 2 person meal with about $5 of raw ingredients and bit of your time.

The trick is not to see it as a chore and more like your personal moment of zen. Try to cook stuff that you enjoy eating and after a while you won't find anything on the street that can beat your stuff.

My wife hates cooking but due to me living away from home for the work week, she has started cooking. She still likes me to cook but has become rather proficient with stuff that our kids like (no cheesy pasta cuz my kids don’t like it, is rice and beans and other "decent" stuff) She gets by the cooking part by zoning out. She plans it ahead of time and stays in the kitchen just long enough to cook whatever is she decided trying not to think about it.

On the other hand, everyone in my momma’s family cooks. It was (most left for the states or have died but those who still live in Puerto Rico still meet from time to time) traditional to meet over the weekend and cook, eat, drink and play dominos or whatever. So it all rubbed on us children. We love to cook and it is a family and social thing. Is fun and we invent and try to make variations of successful meals all the time.

So all in all, is about learning to appreciate food and liking it. You can get by with fast food if you need to, but it never beats a handmade hamburger at home.

To all those who think that eating out (read at mcds or bbking, etc.) is cheaper or better or faster, a regular combo can hit you around 7$ for a single person. With that I can do rice, beans, chicken and greens meal for my family of four in about 15-20 minutes tops and in the end you know that what you eat will rot if you leave it outside for more than a day, namely it is REAL food meant to be consumed not kept as a museum piece.

Look in YouTube for experiments on McBurgers left to their devices. DAYS pass without signs of spoiling. Nasty

Saludos,

Albert

I'll buy this. Whenever i feel down, i get the desire to hide (get behind the monitor for days, read for days, etc. alone without contact with the universe) I’ve learn to detect this and immediately look for something to divert my "frustration/anger/depression” and stop playing soft music.

I usually listen to a enclitic ensemble of stuff; from Heavy Metal to Classical music. When i feel down, i try to move to heavy drum and bass, jungle, aggressive metal like, oh i don't know, the stuff from judgment night sound track, Rammstein, shitte like that. Blast it and do exercise until i can't do no more. Take a shower, a long one and then go to sleep.

If you can go to a concert, get into the mush. I mean it. No fear, nothing held, just mush. The sheer intensity of the experience tagged with the physical exercise of plainly jumping around while feeling (you can't properly listen a concert while mushing real hard) will drain all but the most heavy depressions.

I don't think this will go right up everyone’s alley, but if you think you can handle a real unleashing of anger without killing anyone. Do it. It is one of the most cathartic things that I’ve ever experienced.

All in all, find something you like to do, and fuck-all do it until you forget there is a world out there. Take a showe and get some real sleep.

Indeed we do. Cuba, along with Puerto Rico and La Española (Dominican and Haitian Republics) were "given' (Read, sold to) as war spoils from Spain. Even though Cuba and La Española were in the process of independence from Spain, if not independent already (have to check that one out, memmory fails me; a bit hazy on that one, I admit). Puerto Rico had kick started its independence process also. Already we had gained Autonomous Powers from the Crown, the first step for independence)

I mentioned this because, if you do some research, after the war, congress passed a few laws "allowing" these states to continue their "independence" with a little but important "BUT". That was that the US reserved the right to impose its politics on these territories. Cuba and the La Española became all-included resorts for the US aristocracy and Puerto Rico became their major test field. Agent Orange was tested here in our backyard. Contraceptives were tested here and a whole lot of other stuff that keeps being uncovered all the time.

I am an American citizen by birth (I was born here in Puerto Rico after the US passed a law forcing the citizenship on us so they could legally use the selective service on our people. If you don’t believe me, seek out info on the Infantry Regiment 65 and Puerto Ricans in the US armed forces and the laws that were passed on that subject.) and tend to think of myself as an US American but I cannot deny the atrocities our government has committed in the name of democracy.

I say to hell with it. If a country wants to go fuck itself, we should let them be, IF and this is a BIG IF, the people of a country make an independent attempt to seek our help, then and only then we may try to give them DIPLOMATIC aid. Aside from that we should, as a country, keep our freaking fucking paws of their shit and let them live unhappily ever after. We have so much more pressing problems at home already without trying to solve problems offshore that we have not addressed properly ourselves.

Propaganda indeed. I am afraid that we are not as free and democratic a country as have been led to believe.

BTW, I have it in good faith (Cuban Friends and relatives that have LIVED in Cuba before and after the Castro takeover) that Cuba is not the slice of hell we have been pictured but is also far from paradise as some make it look. If left to market forces, the Cuban government will fall on their own. By placing so much attention to what they do, we only give them a moral stand point to continue baby crying to the UN. Drop the embargo and let the market take over.

I'm sorry, so this man is a terrorist because he send money to a group? Did he KNOW it was a terrorist group? If he knew, then, well that is a different case all around. I hear some of you saying: " well, ignorance does not make you innocent, just stupid..." Hmmm, well, i would be inclined to be for this line of thinking until i remember that one of the suppliers of oil for the US (you know, gasoline in its raw form, among other things) was and still is Venezuela. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Ii rather think the late President and the incumbent idiot down there were, and I’m sure they still are, considered, if not enemies, allied to enemies of the State. Which to the US simply means terrorist these days.

Don't be so hasty to call someone innocent or guilty just because the Government says they are. We took in many war criminals after second world war because they could help us with their science knowledge. And we have killed some whom i might say were not innocent, but at least their crimes were social ones, like fighting for your rights.

America is going down the drain; it has for some time now. We see more clues now because of the ease on information sharing. If our forefathers were alive today they would be all in intensive care due to heart failures brought on by the state of the nation they gave birth to.

I'm just sorry that we, as nation, continue to elect idiots because they belong to our social clubs (party, church, game group, whatever) instead of choosing them for their potential or accomplishments. We are so used to Mtv, CNN, Fox and all the others to think for us that we do not see that they are pulling the Roman Church/Empire on us. You know? cultivating a nation of well entertained idiots? Too much knowledge is dangerous for the lowly man, thus only us upper classes should be the only ones to learn to read and to think so that we can explain things to you in a simple manner?

It might be that by law records of him do not belong to him, but that is wrong; morally and socially wrong. It may be that he knew and that he is indeed guilty. Sure, is possible if not probable, but let the gUSAtapo show us the money. Let them PROVE they did have reasonable cause to ask for records on him. Otherwise we are letting them start a modern inquisition and a time will come (sooner than later me thinks) that being on the wrong side of an argument with the government will get you a fast one way trip to, at the best of times, your friendly and local prison.

Please. wake. up.

Don't be so hasty to call someone innocent or guilty just because the Government says they are. We took in many war criminals after second world war because they could help us with their science knowledge. And we have killed some whom i might say were not innocent, but at least their crimes were social ones, like fighting for your rights.

America is going down the drain; it has for some time now. We see more clues now because of the ease on information sharing. If our forefathers were alive today they would be all in intesive care due to heart failures brought on by the state of the nation they gave birth to.

I'm just sorry that we, as nation, continue to elect idiots because they belong to out social clubs instead of choosing them for their potential or accomplishments. We are so used to Mtv, CNN, Fox and all the others to think for us that we do not see that they are pulling the Roman Church/Empire on us. You know? cultivating a nation of well entertained idiots? Too much knowledge is dangerous for the lowly man, thus only us upper classes should be the only ones to learn to read and to think so that we can explain things to you in a simple manner?

Please. wake. up.

So freaking true is not even funny.

At his point? SInce WWII at least. I am also a US citizen and feel ashamed sometimes into what we, as a country, have devolved into.