A Feckless, Vindictive, and Weaponized U.S. Federal Government – Now O for 3 in Disaster Response

Commentary

The FEMA Spokesperson, Jaclyn Rothenberg, may have locked down her “X” account temporarily as was reported; in fairness though it was open when I checked.  However, of the top 11 “X”s for Jaclyn Rotheberg, six the 11 (55%) were re-“X’s” of attacks on Donald J. Trump, lessons on dis-information, and accusatory reports of dis-information.  As a former press officer, I would suggest that the FEMA Spokesperson focus on success stories of what the U.S. Government is accomplishing and the next steps of the response and recovery effort.  Spending the majority of social media time on shutting down others does not reflect well on U.S. Government efforts to save American lives and properties.

On the 12^th “X” from Jaclyn Rothenberg, I had to a little math.  The “X” was a good news story on aid to South Carolina.  There is nothing wrong with this – the story presented hard metrics on effective delivery of Federal Government Services.  It said, “In South Carolina, FEMA has delivered over $4.7 million to over 5,700 households”; sounds impressive, but that is only $824 per household.  This is where the Harris response and recovery story falls apart.  $824 is not much for a household that was just wiped out or damaged.  Many Americans are outraged at the crazed give away of pre-paid debit cards to illegal aliens.  The New York Times wants to quibble and argue that the cards for illegals are not $10,000 debit cards, but the reality is that in New York City, the cards are being loaded at $350 a week which is $18,200 a year. This is on top of many other perks and benefits.  If FEMA was delivering equal support for U.S. Citizens, they might not have to spend 55% of their “X” time attacking and silencing others.

Hurricane Helene

 Helene has become Kamala’s Hurricane Katrina and Rita.  Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on August 29, 2005, and on September 24, 2005, Hurricane Rita came ashore from Eastern Texas to Western Florida.  President Bush and FEMA were excoriated for the disaster response effort.  The vilification and unhinged histrionics over Katrina’s impact on New Orleans did not garner any charges of “dis-information”.  In a more balanced hindsight view, there were a number of corrupt and inept officials like former Mayor Ray Nagin (convicted of bribery in 2013), U.S. Rep. Bill “Cold Cash” Jefferson convicted for bribery and other matters in 2009, and others who were significant contributing villains in lack of preparedness and poor response to Hurricane Katrina and Rita.

With the on-going disaster response to Helene, we have a Federal Government that tries to silence others and gives out miserly amounts of cash to American citizens.  Secretary Mayorkas spent $1.4 Billion on illegal aliens, but then said he was out of funds to help Americans hurt by Helene.  There are multiple reports of helpers being threatened with arrest for showing initiative and helping.  Absent Federal helicopters, local helicopter pilot Jordan Seidhom tried to fly missions but was told to stand down and stop flying missions.  Democrat strategist David Axelrod continued the gleeful tone deaf-ism by surmising the “upscale” voters of the Blue enclave of Ashville will figure out a way to vote.  Translating this dog whistle message, what Axelrod meant was that the Blue voters are smarter and wealthier, the town of Ashville has already readied the Kamala marked ballots, and the stupid Trump voters are too busy trying to survive outside the city.

Maui

We still do not know truth on what happened in Maui in 2023.  In the Maui fires, FEMA seemed to again prioritize counter-disinformation over transparency and delivery of services.  Lack of transparency, honesty, and previous attempts to silence those on social media is the self-created cycle of dis-information that Democrats complain about while doing their best to create the disaster.  Like New Orleans, there were local officials in Maui that were perhaps not fully qualified to perform their emergency management leadership duties.  Over 100 died in the Maui fires with little accountability or explanation.

The oddity of the Chinese Daqi-1 Satellite over Hawaii shooting lasers into the skies of Hawaii has never been explained.  The Daqi-1 is publicly stated as an, “atmospheric environment monitoring satellite”.  NASA doesn’t list the launch mass of the Daqi-1, but the Long March 4C can reasonably lift 6,000 pounds into orbit. That’s a lot – and plenty of weight for any secret mischievous equipment.  The U.S. Government will put China first and approve their laser experiment – but has never inspected the Daqi-1 so the U.S. Government likely has no idea of what is really on the Daqi-1.  But anyone who questions this is accused of dis-information.

East Palestine, Ohio

In September, there was a Class Action Suit Settlement for $600 million dollars for those affected by the East Palestine, Ohio train disaster in February of 2023.  The train derailment included five railcars of vinyl chloride which were released in the accident and subsequent, controversial controlled burn, which created a large smoke and soot cloud in the area.  The response to the crash was slow and confusing between different Federal agencies and left a very negative feeling about the U.S. Governments competence and concern with disaster response.

Like western North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee for Hurricane Helene, East Palestine, Ohio is strong Trump territory which made the lack of media coverage and visitation by Federal officials look like political punishment.  Like Maui and Hurricane Helene, former President Trump was outspoken, made prompt appearances in East Palestine and Helene affected areas, and showed far more leadership than the Harris-Biden Team.  Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg showed up in East Palestine almost three weeks after the major transportation disaster and was unimpressive, receiving criticism from all sides.  Three points make a trendline and with East Palestine, Maui, and Helene, Kamala’s Team has established that the Government is uncaring, unprepared, or politicized, or all three when it comes to disaster response.

All viewpoints are personal and do not reflect the viewpoints of any organization