"Oh, That's What FEMA Has Been Focused On".
Thousands of Americans are missing and millions are without power in a number of southern states after Hurricane Helene moved through over the weekend, causing catastrophic flooding not seen in decades.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, better known as FEMA, is responsible for the Biden administration's response to the disaster. For the past four years, FEMA has been focused on "equity" in disaster response.
Well, everybody around Asheville and Gatlinburg is equally without any observable support from FEMA, or anybody else in this administration, so I guess the equity thing is working fine.
Meanwhile, Harris put in a few minutes pretending to be briefed on her cell phone - um, one little problem with that.
Red states? Screw 'em! If they want federal government resources they can either go south and sneak back across the border, or move to freakin' Ukraine.
ReplyDeleteHaving some professional experience with FEMA operations, I'm going to make a few comments ... ... mostly because I think there FEMA employees who actually care about what happens to people, and do their best to get 'er done. The obvious lack of concern from the White House, with Biden snoozin' and Harris boozin', puts shame on them.
ReplyDeleteFirst, FEMA was never intended to be a first response agency. And you really don't want it to be. They are into preparedness, relief, recovery, and resilience. Or are supposed to be; DEI likely has pushed some of those to the side. The national response framework emphasizes preparedness at the personal, local, county, and state levels, with NGOs jumping in as they need.
That's what we're seeing now. The scope and intensity of this disaster, coupled with the surprise and mountainous terrain, makes response difficult.
Second, it takes time to mobilize the federal machine. I am seeing reports on social media that federal resources are starting to arrive in the area. Since someone in DC signed the disaster declaration on 25 September, that's not bad ... ... for the feds. And even THOSE resources go to the states, counties, and NGOs for distribution. Setting up logistics takes time. Frightened people have unrealistic expectations of government, and I'm sure that's a factor here.
Just as I'm sure there are genuine needs that aren't being -- or can't be -- met. I just don't know which.
The current federal "leadership" is a joke; Trump did the right thing in going there. Biden and Harris didn't even pretend to care until they were pummeled by the optics. My God, that staged photo of Harris was lame as hell.
Don't get me wrong, the federal response could be much better. I'm also seeing reliable reports on social media that military resources have been told "No, you aren't going." That might be due to the ME fiasco, it might be politics. I don't know.
But, Biden spent TWO HOURS on the phone, taking care of everything!! Don't you dare doubt his commitment to....his beach lounger.
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