Just a few days ago the 2025 hurricane began and the people down here where I live, the Gulf Coast, will be keeping close watch on the tropics waiting for that next show to fall.
I went through Katrina and the destruction was damn near complete….the Coast looked like a war zone and that was 20 years ago this year….and thanks to FEMA, MEMA and others we rebuilt….some say better than before.
But we have another worry to plague our minds…..Dear Donny and his helter skelter mindset towards any disasters….we will be able to weather (no pun intended) any massive storm like Katrina? (Did you know that the director of Donny’s FEMA did not know it was hurricane season?)
I have my doubts because of what he has done to North Carolina….
President Trump talked a big game on the campaign about what he deemed an ineffective response by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) during hurricane season last year. In fact, during a trip to North Carolina in January, he made a point to criticize the Biden administration’s response to Hurricane Helene, saying, “This is totally unacceptable, and I’ll be taking strong action.”
Turns out that “strong action” would be telling the state, “Nah fam, you on your own.”
According to ABC News, FEMA has rejected a request from the North Carolina governor to continue matching state funds for efforts in cleaning up the damage left by Hurricane Helene. The Biden administration issued a cost-sharing directive last fall to match 100% of the funds the state spends on cleanup operations. Hurricane Helene was a Category 4 storm that killed over 230 people and resulted in record flooding throughout the state.
“After a careful and thorough review of all the information available, including that contained in your initial request for a cost share adjustment and appeal, we have concluded that an extension of the 100 percent federal cost share for debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance for an additional 180 days under major disaster declaration FEMA-4827-DR is not warranted,” acting Administrator David Richardson wrote in the letter.
Richardson is…an interesting fellow, to put it politely. A former Marine, he was named the acting director of FEMA despite having no experience managing natural disasters. In his initial remarks to the agency, he warned he would “run right over” any person who doesn’t agree with the changes being made to how FEMA operates.
His appointment seems to be yet another instance of the Trump administration valuing blind loyalty over an innate ability to do critical jobs. This isn’t even speculation, as Richardson more or less confirmed this when he told FEMA employees, “I will achieve the president’s intent. I am as bent on achieving the president’s intent as I was on making sure that I did my duty when I took my Marines to Iraq.”
How can this soulless son-of-a-bitch deny Americans the chance to rebuild their lives and communities after a catastrophic storm?
But yet he can find money to throw that the most wasteful and useless appendage of the government….the War Department.
He has no priorities other than making money for himself and his merry band of thieves.
You voted for this asshole….are you happy now?
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
There’s something very peculiar about this situation and I don’t understand it but my Church, Faith Presbyterian in Greensboro and most of the rest of North Carolina’s churches and Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse collect all we can in cash and hard goods for the hard hit western part of the state. I understand the tragedy as I went through every heavy storm and hurricane in Miami from 1954 to 2015. When folks have lost everything and are broke and in debt there isn’t enough assistance from anywhere to rebuild and start over.
I do not understand a government that turns it’s back on the people….that government does not deserve to exist. chuq
Communities affected by disasters like hurricanes are going to face the reality of life under Trump this year. Stay safe, my friend.
Best wishes, Pete.
And then we have to deal with insurance companies that want to pull out of any danger zones so they can keep all their cash….that in my book is a crime. chuq
I guess the states are finally going to have to start shouldering the burden from their individual disasters…as it should be.
I disagree….the government wants my help then they need to step up as well. chuq
something I have never understood, perhaps I’m wired wrong; there is a volcano erupting in your area. You board up the windows (so no one will steal stuff) and leave. Not far, but you do try to stay out of the path. When the volcano gives up, you go back and reclaim your property, which is now buried under several tons of smoking burbling lava. WHY? You now own lava.
A hurricane is coming. People are told to evacuate. No one moves. The Police, the Army, whatever, come through, warning people to begin to leave, please. The wind is already beginning to take branches off of trees. You sigh, close the windows, lock the doors, and wade out to the car, which is now sitting in about six inches of water. When you return there is no house, only a floating bunch of wood. But by jesum it’s yours, and you guard it. and when the water recedes you rebuild. Not for the first time.
I stay with my home for I have two canine friends that most shelters do not accept….I will NOT leave them. chuq