New York House candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez today called Puerto Rico — a territory that lacks statehood and thus the ability to vote — a "colony" of the United States, claiming that Americans must recognize that the island deserves "real self-determination" in order to fix the root causes of Hurricane Maria's devastation.
Between the lines: President Trump has repeatedly praised the U.S. government's response to Hurricane Maria, despite the disaster resulting in close to 3,000 deaths — a figure that Trump disputes. Today, on the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria's landfall in Puerto Rico, the White House released a statement calling the response a "historic recovery effort" that has helped Puerto Rico make "significant progress" rebuilding the island after the storm.
Hurricane Florence's rains have finally left the Carolinas, but the risks there are growing with rising rivers.
The big picture: Florence's death toll had risen to nearly 40 by Wednesday, with the storm shattering rainfall records in the Carolinas and ranking as an event that had less than a 0.1% chance of occurring in any given year. (In other words, this was a 1,000-year event for many.) Floodwaters have breached at least two storage facilities for coal ash, and hog farms that dot the landscape of eastern North Carolina are reportedly leaking waste into floodwaters.
