A Tennessee Republican congressman on Friday told a conservative podcaster that the first thing he wants to do when he returns to Washington D.C. is advocate to reorganize FEMA – and “shut it down.”“When I get back to Washington that’s the first thing, we’re gonna — we need a reorganization of FEMA....
  • MCasq_qsaCJ_234@lemmy.zipEnglish
    121·
    17 days ago

    -FEMA closed-

    -Hurricanes hit Florida-

    -There is no FEMA and recovery is slower-

    -Republicans blame Democrats for the closure of FEMA-

    -Immigrants hired to speed up recovery-

    • adarza@lemmy.caEnglish
      29·
      17 days ago

      what immigrants? they were denied entry or booted out of the country on the previous page.

          • Tinidril@midwest.socialEnglish
            6·
            16 days ago

            Bring back? It never went away. The 13th amendment still explicitly allows slavery of prisoners, and that has been exploited to the fullest.

      • Billiam@lemmy.world
        8·
        16 days ago

        The ones that Republicans will hire and pay under the table, of course. Just like they do now.

    • Cris@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      17 days ago

      Bold of you to assume they’ll blame the closure of FEMA for slow response, that sounds altogether too much like a realistic reason for that outcome

    • auk@slrpnk.net
      74·
      17 days ago

      It’s very deliberate.

      One of the key features of an abusive relationship is shutting you down from people who can help you.

      If someone’s in the middle of a disaster, and Joe Biden’s federal government comes and helps them out, it’s a catastrophe for the Republicans. It brings the psychotic lies people have been told about the government into contact with the reality of the federal government in the real world, which is one of the few ways they might be able to break out of their elaborate propaganda-bubbles.

      If, on the other hand, they’re convinced that FEMA is now coming to kill them, but also their home has been washed away in a mudslide, then they might wind up fleeing the state, living with their family on their brother-in-law’s couches, trying to scrape by, becoming more and more desperate, with no one to give them any substantive assistance of any kind. The desperation increases. The fear of anything governmental or democratic can continue, and increase.

      And then, when their brother-in-law offers them a rifle and an invitation to come with a few people and shoot up the election office, or the Democratic organizer’s home, because the government already tried to kill them once when they were at their lowest point, and they escaped only by the skin of their teeth, so it might as well be go time… well, they might accept the offer. Because why not?

      By demonizing FEMA, the Republicans are turning what would have been a problem into a recruitment tool.

      • Mirshe@lemmy.world
        10·
        17 days ago

        Also grist for the mill of war. If you’re planning to annex Canada, or Mexico, or all of Latin America or whatever, you’ll need a lot of bodies. Desperate people are way more likely to say “holy shit the army’s recruiting for that war in Mexico. I don’t like it, but having 3 hots and a cot sounds pretty swell instead of fistfighting Ralph behind the Shoney’s for the last slice of pizza.”

  • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.worldEnglish
    56·
    17 days ago

    I think we should all take a moment to remember that these people are fucking pathetic. You can really open hand slap a fascist. They won’t do anything. They’re scared to go to the fanciest cities on Earth because there might be a hobo. Just pathetic people.

    • LordKitsuna@lemmy.world
      526·
      16 days ago

      Honestly at this point? Fine fuck it. I am so jaded that at this point my opinion is just Humanity has had so many chances throughout history to get it shit together and has repeatedly continued to fail and fall into this small group of people with power ruin everything while everyone suffers bullshit.

      Time for us to just die and give the dolphins their turn

      • RegalPotoo@lemmy.worldEnglish
        301·
        16 days ago

        Nah, fuck that.

        You know what humanity has done with its chances? Eliminated polio. Developed better crops and farming techniques to almost entirely eliminate famines. Slashed maternal mortality to a fraction of what it was 2 generations ago. Developed social and economic systems to tip the incentives in favour of peace and cooperation - even with gestures broadly at Russia and the middle east the current generation is less likely to be killed in war than in any other time in history. There are dozens of medical conditions that, if you developed then 50 years ago you just died where today it’s a routine surgery to correct.

        Apathy is what kills us. If you want to die then go get help - personally there are a few billion people I give a shit about.

        • Billiam@lemmy.world
          231·
          16 days ago

          Apathy is what kills us.

          Literally. Anyone want proof? This:

          Slashed maternal mortality to a fraction of what it was 2 generations ago

          Maternal mortality rates have increased by 11% in the US since the repeal of Roe. This is driven by shithole states like Texas, where the maternal mortality rate has increased by 56% in the past two years.

          You didn’t vote for Hillary because she just didn’t inspire you? She didn’t personally visit your state? She didn’t blow smoke up your ass promising fossil fuel production would increase despite the industry clearly dying for decades due to market pressures?

          Fuck you, women are dying now. So when you go vote in November, you can either vote for the fucking assholes who did this or the party that isn’t going to do this. Choose accordingly.

          (Also, you said “cops” when you meant “crops” I hope!)

  • IHeartBadCode@fedia.io
    26·
    17 days ago

    When I get back to Washington that’s the first thing, we’re gonna — we need a reorganization of FEMA.

    We JUST HAD ONE!! That was the Homeland Security Act of 2002.

    And then they’ll tell you, ‘Oh, we didn’t send that money to the illegals.’ The hell they didn’t

    That has been authorized by Congress the last three appropriations bills. More importantly, that money is for Customs and Border Patrol which for some odd reason, FEMA cuts the checks when it comes to SSP expenditures, why is that? Oh because that’s just how the Homeland Security Act of 2002 works.

    So the interesting thing here is that Congress writes a confusing method for how accounting works within a department and is then shocked that the manner by how funds get paid is so confusing. Who could have possible seen this coming? I guess 9/11 kind of clouded our ability to have foresight.

    SIGH

    At any rate. The whole FEMA writes checks that CBP will cash has been weird ever since 2002, that you all finally have come around to “Oh gosh they’re spending this on illegals” is just y’all’s take on the oddity. But strange that “Oh gosh that’s odd” doesn’t seem to hit when FEMA is writing checks for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that was going on in 2017 to 2019. Nor when DHS Secretary requested Disaster Relief Funds for ICE to deport illegal immigrants, remember that one?

    The thing is, FEMA being this bank account for various other agencies in the Department of Homeland Security only seems weird when it’s distinctly shit y’all don’t agree with. And let me be clear. I get it, we DO NEED to reorganize FEMA. I’m not debating that. But FEMA should not be a agency of DHS since twenty-two years ago, because this is the shit that happens when you mix agencies like this together.

    And this is the thing, Congress knew that this kind of weird shit would happen when they originally placed FEMA into DHS, that was the entire fucking point. Y’all wanted to intermix disaster relief with border protection and all the various bullshit that’s involved with the latter because then when you needed funding you could all gasp and go “WHO WOULDN’T WANT TO FUND RECOVERY FROM DISASTERS!!” And this guy hasn’t shied away from that argument, he’s just using the other side of the coin argument for this instance.

    You all have created these weird interactions because it gives you cover when you need it, and a scapegoat when you want it. Burchett can continue to be a useless sack of shit that collects a paycheck and does nothing, just like DesJarlais. These fuckers go to DC, yell at a camera, collect their paycheck, and go home and in, DesJarlais’ case, I guess to go impregnate some aide.

    Tennessee second, fourth, fifth, and sixth district are fucking useless bastards that if they went into a bathroom in Congress and jerked off would be more than they usually do in a typical day. Anything they have to say should be treated with about the same dignity one gives bird shit on their vehicle’s windshield. I mean the others aren’t that great, but at least they have demonstrated some small ability to reason. Those four are a fucking lost cause.

  • nifty@lemmy.world
    221·
    16 days ago

    So, things like this prove that the U.S. GDP is a made up spreadsheet illusion.

    It might be that FEMA and DOE cutbacks are something both Republicans and Democrats want. Otherwise I cannot think why these politicians are speed running ruining institutions which ultimately lead to economic productivity.

    Helping people live in a stable condition after a disaster (FEMA) leads to more productivity.

    Helping workers be educated and skilled leads to more productivity.

    It seems like someone wrote a plan on how to effectively make America lose its economic power, and Republicans are just eating it up.

    • rektdeckard@lemmy.world
      8·
      17 days ago

      Sorry, but isn’t that exactly the batshit stuff they’re accusing? Citizens of those states deserve the same benefits, no matter how dumb they or their leaders are

      • RubberElectrons@lemmy.world
        7·
        17 days ago

        Sometimes I ponder about the consequences of “shaking the tree”, so to speak.

        At some point, there emerges only a direct method to get people to understand where help is coming from, some way to get the misinformed people affected by disaster to see directly that it is us, other Americans, who are delegating & funding the emergency help as needed.

        Cutting aid for a short period, with clear messaging about who and why, would do that… If we were naive enough to believe that would work. Reds might try to enact their own (undoubtedly privatized) version of FEMA, and blame us all for how badly it works out. See: the joke of a texan ISO power operator.

        Do we remove our nose to spite the face?

        How much does stability matter when it comes to propping up a system which disregards the long-term longevity of our species as a whole?

        Scary questions, with even scarier possible answers mean we’ll continue forth as-is, bitching and moaning the whole time.

        E: I’m drunk and dgaf, cleaning my house and taking breaks. Lean into it folks, life outside our human constructed walls is bleak, without remorse and free of morality. We’ve triumphed in building a beautiful society, and I believe are only on the threshold to greater things if we remember we’re all on team human, spaceship earth with other beautiful living companions. None of this other bullshit fucking matters lol.

  • PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk
    8·
    17 days ago

    Just for the lols, I voted on the “Is Trump mentally fit for president?” question. It just asks for an email address and a couple of validation questions.

    what the fuck is that though? Automatically enrolling someone in a string of “update” mailing lists is a dick move.

    I only hope their reporting attitude is better than their data management policy is.

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
    41·
    16 days ago

    Don’t have a career in government where you help people. Repubs will cannibalize and destroy it.