So... why is the GOP so actively trying to reduce the ability of FEMA to help those in the affected areas who need assistance?

Because when these people emerge - either dead or alive - they'll blame it on Biden/Harris' FEMA. And those who believed the lies about the government not caring about them will become conservative media darlings as they publicly blame their plight on Biden/Harris and FEMA spending its money and resources on immigrants instead of taking care of them, 'the real Americans'.

They create their own narratives and victims. It's a cottage industry with these people.

This is what Trump and his Oompa Loompas have wrought through their geyser of lies:

Mayorkas is not a politician, he's a bureaucrat who rightly understands that he works for the American people, not Joe Biden, not Kamala Harris, and not the Democratic Party. Yes, he represents the Administration who empowered him, but his oath was to the Constitution and to protect and defend the People.

Stating that the current funding level is likely not enough should FEMA be called upon to deal with another recovery as vast as Helene is not playing politics, it's telling the truth. It's like contingencies and advanced planning don't even resonate on Earth II. The US has seen a series of supercharged hurricanes hit our shores in recent years and is currently trying to recover from the most extensive and expensive hurricane recovery in history. Mayorkas would be derelict in his constitutional duties not to give Congress the best information he has at that moment, obviously taking into consideration what already happened(is happening) most recently.

I truly do not understand what the issue is here. FEMA can only spend disaster relief funds for actual disaster relief, so even if Congress gives FEMA an extra $100 million, it would just sit unless it becomes necessary to spend. All those complaining about simple government are playing politics with tragedy. It would be one thing if the Biden Administration had a history of poor department management and profligate spending, but that simply isn't true. And zero of the disaster relief funds are spent on immigrants, ZERO.

In politics, it's called lying.

Another ------ reader. Guess he missed this:

Mayorkas noted: "That doesn't speak about the future and the fact, as I mentioned earlier, that these extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and severity, and we have to be funded for the sake of the American people. This is not a political issue."

The federal government has mounted a sprawling response following routine protocol, sending supplies, meals and more than 1,000 personnel; taking aid applications from affected residents and coordinating with state and local agencies. Search-and-rescue efforts are ongoing in remote areas. Some residents have complained about waiting for on-the-ground aid, and the aftermath will require the type of lengthy recovery that often includes issues and obstacles.

Trump has sought to blame the hurricane devastation on immigration, on Thursday falsely saying that those affected by the hurricane are getting "no help" because the federal government has instead spent its money "on people that should not be in our country."

FEMA, like other government agencies, has long struggled with funding issues and sometimes draws frustration from communities following disasters. Some residents in areas hit by Helene have complained that federal aid has not yet reached them. But those problems are unrelated to immigration, and misinformation makes it more difficult for disaster victims to understand what's going on and how to access aid, experts say.

This was Mayorkas 3 months ago:

Do you have reading comprehension issues? Do you realize that intelligent people change their views on topics when new information emerges or conditions dictate taking a different approach than one thought before?

That's precisely why Mayorkas 3 months ago is different than today.

That is the worst fact check I've ever seen.

Yes, because it eviscerated your lying argument. Congress passed money for FEMA's SSP program SEPARATELY from the disaster funds. NO DISASTER FUNDS were spent on immigrants during the Biden Administration, only TRUMP did that in 2019.

FEMA hasn't spent all their budget yet, but with the most expensive hurricane damage IN HISTORY currently being addressed, if another storm hits our mainland this season FEMA won't have the money to adequately respond. They're letting Congress know in advance, not waiting until the last second.

And lastly, the only President to steal money from the disaster fund was TRUMP in 2019, as documented in the article.

Sorry, you don't have facts, you have lies and projections fueling your never-ending gaslighting. Hopefully one of these days you'll self immolate from all your dishonesty.

#7

#7

With the nation's economy - and much of the president's legacy - hanging in the balance just weeks before the election, White House chief economist Lael Brainard told management that they needed to come up with a new offer to the striking longshoremen. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stressed that Hurricane Helene magnified the importance of a deal. Labor Secretary Julie Su expressed optimism that the union would agree to a temporary extension if raises were included.

And then, in a surprising move, as the call was wrapping up, Zients told the board members of the United States Maritime Alliance that he was going to tell Biden in about an hour that they had agreed to propose a new offer to the union. By that point, the shipping executives had agreed to do no such thing. Zients was saying they would.

"I need the offer today - not tomorrow. Today," Zients said on the call. "I'm going to brief the president in an hour that you believe you can get this done today."

Less than 12 hours later, White House officials were celebrating a deal to reopen the ports until January - postponing the issue until after this November's election. The agreement provides collective if temporary relief to skittish Democrats from the White House to Capitol Hill, while buoying Vice President Kamala Harris along with Friday's strong jobs report.

This is what happens when you have a wizened leader - not an ego-driven braggart show-off - in charge of the nation's economic well being. Diamond Joe understands the true art of the deal in ways Trump can't even contemplate simply because Joe was acting primarily in this nation's best interests, not just his own and his legacy's.

But I have little doubt that Trump would have stopped the strike quickly as well, the difference being he would have ordered strikers back to work by invoking the Taft-Hartley Act because he could care less about the workers' desires, only caring about the owners' and his own.

Trump has been trying to weaponize the Hurricane Helene relief efforts, accusing the Biden administration of failing to provide adequate assistance. As part of his critique, he claims that there is no money available for hurricane relief because it was spent already to handle the surge of migrants at the southern border.

Trump's claims have been echoed by his supporters, such as billionaire Elon Musk. But Trump is completely wrong.

Even though Trump was once president, he still appears to have little clue about the appropriations process. What's even richer is that when he was president, he did exactly what he claims Biden did - take money from FEMA's disaster fund to fund migrant programs at the southern border.

Trump has a habit of assuming other politicians act in the same way as he would. So we wondered why he would accuse Biden of raiding the FEMA disaster fund to handle undocumented migrants.

It turns out that's because he did this! In 2019, the Trump administration, in the middle of hurricane season, told Congress that it was taking $271 million from DHS programs, including $155 million from the disaster fund, to pay for immigration detention space and temporary hearing locations for asylum seekers who have been forced to wait in Mexico. "The U.S. is facing a security and humanitarian crisis on the Southern border," the administration said in its notice that it was redirecting the funds.

The monthly reports issued by the FEMA disaster fund show $38 million was plucked and given to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in August that year - just before the prime storm period of September and October.

Quelle surprise.

Diamond Joe just walked into the White House briefing room unexpected, and touted today's economic news and the overall strength of the US economy, along with thanking both the ILS union and the port owners for reaching their agreement and suspending the strike.

He took a number of questions, one of them being his response to Marco Rubio claiming today's employment/unemployment numbers are "fake". He refused to take the bait, verbalizing that he would like to say more but wasn't going to.

Funny, Trump has built his entire campaign around the notion that "he alone can fix" America's problems. Seems that Sleepy Joe is indeed Dark Brandon as he and his envoys were the ones who brought the union and port owners together reminding them of how important their roles are in both the economy and the hurricane relief efforts, leading to the agreement.

Not too bad for someone that Republicans insist isn't really running the country. He's doing a damn sight better than Donald Trump was this time 4 years ago, isn't he?

#4

And this matters why?

Sounds like you hang around with the Swells. Last time I want to hear you talk about poor workers.

It surprises me not that you know nothing about me because I've been vocal for years about being a union member myself. My job entails working with union locals and their members, so don't make me laugh at your ignorance, troll breath.

Even though I work for a publicly traded company, every single worker in my division belongs to a union, including our CEO.

So I take you insults and wear them as a badge of pride in knowing you continue to prove you're not an American, you know nothing of what it means to be an American and you have no inkling of what makes America what it is outside of your own incessant attempts to divide and demean those completely foreign to you.

As I said, you reveal who you are with every post. I'm only stating the obvious. You're not an American, you're an agitator troll.

It's only an extension to the 15th of Jan, it's not the new master contract.

Like I said they showed themselves to be jerks, and inefficient.

And like I said, you're an anti-American troll who doesn't understand the written word because English isn't your first language. It IS a new contract temporarily rolled into the existent one.

Why would anyone be proud of "anti automation" or even agree to a "master contract" now?

With every single post you continue to prove you have no earthly understanding of what being an American means and you also lack critical reading skills.

First, what "government kickbacks" could non-government workers get? That's a notion from a command economy controlled by elitists or authoritarians. Congress is the only one who can authorize legislative change, not the President nor Executive Branch.

Second, the workers are getting a record raise in their contract, hardly being weak by any objective measure.

Lastly, here in America, even when we might disagree politically, we do not place our individual needs above those of citizens suffering through no fault of their own when simply by doing our jobs we can assist them. Disrupting the supply lines at this moment is simply untenable when so many people in multiple states are depending upon being able to quickly start rebuilding their lives and towns.

Is the deal everything the union wanted? Of course not, that's why both sides agreed to continue negotiations at minimum through January 2025.

And as it regards the worst ports, that's ownership's fault, isn't it? They've made record profits for years now and failed to reinvest in their own business, which isn't the fault of the union workers. And again, upgrading is a long term issue, not something that can or will be changed in the short term.

I was talking about Biden and his legacy of being a union buster.

Good luck stopping automation now.

There's anti-automation language in the Master Contract already. Maybe the document hasn't reached your troll farm yet.

Yes, because the strike disrupting distribution after a cataphoric hurricane on the east coast and a month before the election was a brilliant PR move.

A tentative agreement was reached "on wages" and extending "the Master Contract until January 15, 2025 to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues," the ILA and USMX said in a joint statement Thursday evening.

"Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume," the statement read.

"I want to applaud the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance for coming together to reopen the East Coast and Gulf ports. Today's tentative agreement on a record wage and an extension of the collective bargaining process represents critical progress towards a strong contract," President Joe Biden said on the agreement.

And the pressures on not disrupting supply lines particularly because of the additional stresses caused by hurricane relief efforts indeed accelerated what had been a moribund negotiating process.

On a personal note, when I worked a CBTU national convention in Hollywood, FL a few years ago, a Longshoreman local president invited me to a private party in one of their suites. They were very nice people and laid out quite a delicious spread.

what does that mean?

Early on, there was hope that Putin would be able to reign in the corruption that occurred under Yeltsin, even though he was ex-KGB. He claimed to want democratic reforms, even possibly joining NATO. You don't remember this?

Of course, it was all for show. Putin quickly morphed into the autocratic dictator, kleptocrat, and friends to fellow Russian oligarchs he was born to be, drawing the scorn of Democrats and Republicans alike in the 2000's.

You brought in the flood insurance part...not me.

Secondarily - If this wasn't enough for devastated North Carolinians... 'this' being having already lost their homes and possessions, which were not insured for flooding, so they'll have no insurance claims for the damage.

As I understand it, nothing was stopping these people from buying flood insurance had they chosen to. They would have received low rates because they didn't live in a documented flood zone.

And they didn't live in one - until the moment they did due to a historic tropical storm dropping unprecedented amounts of rain on their mountains, washing away their towns and buildings.