Federal Emergency Management Agency

Trump Destruction Of USAID, Department Of Education, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Emergency Management Agency, And More! :(

Ronald 7 Comments

As the nation reaches the end of the First Hundred Days of Donald Trump’s second term, there are so many shocking and disappointing developments.

One of the most disgraceful is the move by the Trump Administration to dismantle the following agencies of the federal government:

The US Agency For International Development
The US Department of Education
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Federal Emergency Management Agency

If indeed these four agencies are allowed to “disappear”, it will mean the US no longer cares about those around the world who are affected by disease, war, and poverty;

that US AID, created under the administration of John F. Kennedy will no longer exist;

that Education, which became a federal commitment under Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953, and was made a separate agency under Jimmy Carter, will cease to be involved in setting national educational standards;

that protection of consumers, fought for by Elizabeth Warren under the Obama Administration before she became a US Senator from Massachusetts, will disappear;

that the promotion of federal aid to states and localities due to natural disasters, created in the administration of Jimmy Carter, will no longer be available;

that all of these humane and compassionate attempts to make government work for all Americans and the world community at large, will be wiped out, due to the lack of compassion and empathy of Donald Trump!

These agencies being destroyed will be a slap in the face of Presidents who cared about the nation and the world, and particularly against the memory of Jimmy Carter, who died just a few months ago!

This is a crime against America and the world at large!

Donald Trump And Elon Musk Attack On Federal Regulatory Agencies

Ronald 32 Comments

Donald Trump and Elon Musk have declared war on many federal regulatory agencies, creating a “clear and present danger” in so many areas of government policy.

These include the US Agency For International Development (USAID); the US Department of Education, which is a Cabinet post; the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

These agencies were created by John F. Kennedy in 1961; Jimmy Carter in 1979 for the second and third listed agencies; and the latter by Barack Obama in 2010, after vigorous advocacy by Elizabeth Warren, before she won election to the US Senate in 2012.

Additionally, there has been discussion of weakening or eliminating the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC); and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), all created in the early 1970s under Richard Nixon.

This is pure madness, but at this point, Trump and Musk are like “Bulls in a China Shop”, abusing their power and no clearcut response from Democrats, state governments, and the courts, although cases are being brought to the courts, and Democrats are up in arms!

Trump And Musk Out To Destroy Federal Government!

Ronald 58 Comments

Donald Trump and Elon Musk have declared war on the federal government and its multitude of agencies, a totally destructive and dangerous move that will undermine economic, social, and political stability, and threaten American national security.

Among the government agencies being attacked and damaged are, in no special order:

Federal Bureau of Investigation
Central Intelligence Agency
US Agency For International Development
Department of Justice
Department of Defense
Department of the Treasury
Department of Labor
Department of Veterans Affairs
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Centers for Disease Control And Prevention
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Food and Drug Administration
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Office of Management and Budget
Office of Personnel Management
General Services Administration
Social Security Administration
The Department of Education
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Environmental Protection Agency
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Consumer Product Safety Commission
National Labor Relations Board
Public Broadcasting Service
National Public Radio

These agencies were created under many Presidential administrations, both Democratic and Republican, since the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt more than nine decades ago!

Donald Trump’s “Wrecking Ball” On The Federal Government!

Ronald 30 Comments

Donald Trump, in just four days in office, has applied the “wrecking ball” on the federal government.

Thousands of civil servants in many different government agencies have been told not to come to work, and have lost access to their offices and websites.

The Civil Service system set up in 1883 under the Pendleton Act is being eviscerated before our eyes.

The plan is to end government agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) created under President Jimmy Carter; the Department of Education, also created under Carter; and radically changing the State Department, Defense Department, the intelligence agencies, and the Department of Justice, all of whom Trump considers to be the “Deep State”.

Additionally, undocumented immigrants and gay and transgender people are subject to threats and lack of protection of basic human rights.

Plans are in place to undermine public education, and promote a right wing agenda on the curriculum, ignoring the reality of American history, and denying the reality of climate change and global warming.

Access to health and medical information is being limited, and if Robert F. Kennedy Jr is confirmed as Health and Human Services Secretary, or even if replaced by some other extremist, the nation will not be ready to deal with future health crises and potential for pandemics, since there is a denial of the reality of disease threats. And any investigation of racial disparities in disease study, and also of health issues involving gays and lesbians, has been halted, an absolutely horrifying scenario!

And Trump is trying to undermine the Constitution by promoting the end of Birthright Citizenship, which is protected by the 14th Amendment, clearly a racist move to limit migration and citizenship of immigrants from Latin America, Asia and Africa.

His proposal to allow a third term defies the 22nd Amendment, and is clearly a power grab by his supporters in Congress.

And his decision to deny continued security to former members of his earlier administration, including John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, is an outrage, putting their lives in danger!

But clearly, he only cares about himself, and does not value human life beyond what it can do for his power grab.

And to top it off, the pardoning of known violent extremists who attacked the US Capitol viciously gives these threats to public order the potential to cause more violence and bloodshed, and likely receive future Presidential pardons, so it is like the Brown Shirts of Adolf Hitler!

We are living in a time of right wing radical extremism, which is a threat to the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, the rule of law, and the concept of American democracy.

And at least short term, there is not much of a reaction or counter plans to deal with this crisis which is on the level of a potential equivalent of the Civil War or the Great Depression or World War II in the past of American history!

Ohio Train Derailment And Nebraska Child Labor Scandal Signs Of Corporate Abuse!

Ronald 2 Comments

Sadly, in 2023, we have examples of corporate abuse as seen with the recent East Palestine, Ohio derailment of dangerous chemicals, on a train two miles long, with only two workers operating the train.

Also, in Nebraska, we have early teens doing dirty and dangerous work as cleaning workers in a slaughter house, breaking the child labor laws, and exploiting immigrant children.

How this is possible is due to continued big business and conservative and Republican attempts to weaken federal regulation, as occurred under Donald Trump and earlier Republican Presidents, despite the work of Barack Obama to strengthen such regulation.

The issues of government regulation of business and labor rights were dealt with in the Progressive Era of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson; again in the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt; and again in the 1960s under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. It emerged again in the Obama Presidency, but then was backtracked on under Donald Trump, as with earlier Republican Presidents, particularly Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.

It is essential to have actions to prevent the kinds of tragedies that have occurred recently. The answer is not to attack Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and President Biden. And the Republican attack on the Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and other federal regulatory agencies must stop!

Donald Trump And Hurricanes: Hurricane Maria In Puerto Rico, And Hurricane Florence Now Menacing The Carolinas And Virginia

Ronald 11 Comments

Donald Trump has presided over the worst hurricane disaster in American history, with Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, leading to 3,000 deaths, the same as the attack on Al Qaeda on September 11, 2001.

He has the gall and the lack of empathy to claim a “great success”, and it is clear Trump is totally delusional, and criminal in his lack of taking responsibility for the disaster that could have been handled better by the Federal Emergency Management Agency,

And now, just in advance of hurricane season, and the menacing Hurricane Florence about to assault North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, in what some think could be the worst hurricane in memory, it has been revealed that $10 million has been transferred to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to arrange for more detentions of immigrants than already has occurred, marking the greatest such detention facilities since the Japanese Americans in World War II.

It is a criminal act to promote continued and expanded detention, and it is also criminal to take funds out of FEMA as we face another hurricane disaster season.

There has to be, eventually, full accountability for these crimes for top officials in the Trump Administration, and if the nation cannot protect its own citizens from harm from natural disasters, then how can they protect us from harm from a foreign foe, from terrorism?

That is the number one question to ask of the Trump Administration, which is proving to be more incompetent on hurricanes than even George W. Bush on Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana in 2005.

The Disaster Of Puerto Rico, 4,645 Dead, More Than September 11: A Violation Of Human Rights Perpetrated By The Trump Administration

Ronald 3 Comments

The tragic disaster of Puerto Rico, whose population are US Citizens, is a massive violation of human rights perpetrated by the Trump Administration.

The total of 4.645 dead, not the 64 first stated, is an unbelievable loss of life, nearly two and a half times the loss of life in Hurricane Katrina (1833), and one and a half times the losses of September 11 (2996).

And yet, nothing is said or no apologies offered, or mistakes acknowledged, by Donald Trump or any of his underlings in the cabinet, and also in the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has the primary responsibility in natural disasters.

There is no conscience, no sorrow, no regrets, as Trump and his advisers are openly racist against Puerto Ricans.

If this loss of life had occurred in Texas or Florida, we would have heard mass denunciation of the lack of response, but the Republican Party in Congress has nothing to say about this great tragedy.

And with the hurricane season upon us, and reconstruction of facilities not accomplished in Puerto Rico, there is great fear of the final decimation of the island, which deserves equal treatment and consideration as much as any state and any other group of people.

If the government cannot guarantee the safety and security of its own population, then the government has failed the ultimate test—protection of national security of all of its citizens.

On this ground alone, Donald Trump and his ilk should be forced out of office, and indicted, convicted, and imprisoned for basic violation of human rights!

Right Wing Conspiratorial Hysteria Over Barack Obama Has Been Proved Totally Wrong!

Ronald 3 Comments

We are now entering the eighth and last year of the Barack Obama Presidency, with a new President to be inaugurated on January 20, 2017.

It is in many ways amazing how Obama has survived unprecedented verbal attacks for seven years, and the most threats to his life of any President since Abraham Lincoln.

His Republican opposition has been unrelenting in the promotion of right wing conspiratorial hysteria for the past seven years, and has had no shame in wishing upon him all of the most terrible tragedies and failures, rather than willingness to unite for the public good!

And right wing radio and Fox News Channel has been totally despicable in encouraging right wing lunatics, and inciting them to create a constant stress and threat on the 44th President of the United States.  They would not be happy until he was either forced from office or dead from an assassin, and there is still clear concern that our President faces endless threats at a time when the Secret Service has been found wanting, and in need of drastic updating, reform, and new leadership!

For any American to have believed the conspiracy theories and gloom and doom loaded on Barack Obama, it is instructive to look back at some of what has been predicted and has NOT happened!

  1. Barack Obama will cancel the elections of 2016 and rule by martial law, and put his enemies into FEMA camps.  This is totally laughable!
  2. Barack Obama will take everyone’s guns away.  Yeh, sure, instead we have more guns and gun ownership than ever before, and more deaths from guns than automobile accidents!
  3. Barack Obama will destroy the American economy, with the highest gas prices ever, dramatic increase in unemployment and inflation, the collapse of the stock market, and the promotion of the end of the capitalist system. Instead we have 5 percent unemployment, doubling of the stock market, low inflation, and capitalism is alive and well, thank you!
  4. Barack Obama is a Muslim who will advance the cause of the Muslim jihadists, and allow the downfall of Christianity in America. Yeh, sure, instead we have more Muslims killed by Obama’s drone usage than under George W. Bush, and Osama bin Laden was killed!
  5. Barack Obama will destroy the oil and coal industries in his  mad quest to promote the “phony” issue of climate change. Yeh, sure, the energy industries are making record profits!
  6. Barack Obama will destroy heterosexual America by his promotion of gay rights, same sex marriage, and transgender rights.  Laughable, but heterosexual marriage divorces are up, and more Americans have broken marriages than the total number of same sex marriages!
  7. Barack Obama will take away the civil liberties and civil rights of Americans through government snooping on the private lives of Americans. Yeh, sure, as the NSA is limited in its ability to fight terrorism by government restrictions put upon them!
  8. Barack Obama will undermine law and order in this country through promotion of the agenda of extremist African Americans demands.  Yeh, sure, the idea that Obama is a black radical because he speaks up about growing number of police killings of unarmed black men is laughable!
  9. Barack Obama will destroy the nation through open borders immigration of people from Mexico and Central America.  Yeh, sure, as Obama has had more deportations of illegal immigrants than under George W. Bush!
  10. Barack Obama will undermine the nation of Israel and refuse to support the security of that nation.  Yeh, sure, as Obama provided the IRON DOME system and has given Israel more foreign aid than any President of the United States before him!
  11. Barack Obama will promote the expansion and aggression of the Russians under Vladimir Putin.  Yeh, sure that is why Putin embraces Donald Trump, and has actually cooperated with the American government on Middle East issues, and knows NATO is working to protect Ukraine, due to the tough stand of Obama!
  12. Barack Obama will promote a one world government led by the United Nations.  This is totally ridiculous, not even worth commenting on, as totally delusional!

It is time for the ill informed and uneducated population of America to stop their ignorance, learn the truth, and start to show appreciation of the historic nature of Barack Obama in the Presidency, and to wish him well in his final year in the White House.  His ranking in history for his accomplishments, his dignity, his class, his compassion, his common sense, and his courage in the face of adversity will make him appreciated in the future in a way appropriate for his performance in office!

The Greatest Danger Of All: Right Wing “Patriot” Groups Which Are Encouraged By Republican And Conservative Anti Obama Propaganda

Ronald Leave a comment

The Southern Poverty Law Center does an annual report on the status of hate groups on the right, which represent a dire threat to American freedom and liberty.

In 2008, there were 149 groups, increasing in 2009 to 512, increasing again in 2010 to 824, and jumping to 1,274 in 2011. That is 755 percent growth in three years!

These “Patriot” groups emerged during the 1990s with the rise of domestic terrorism, including the attack in Oklahoma City in 1995. But the economic collapse of 2008, along with the growing minority groups in America, and the election of Barack Obama, further accelerated this right wing surge.

While we must be concerned about terrorism from abroad, in many respects our domestic terrorist threat is far greater, and these are not Arabs or Middle Easterners, but rather traditional white Americans who promote conspiracy theories about government taking away private guns, and planning concentration camps formed by FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency!

Militia groups also believe that Mexico is going to take back the American Southwest, and that the government will be unable to stop them on this matter, as crazy as that sounds!

With many Republicans and conservatives still spreading rumors and gossip about Barack Obama being from Kenya, and being a secret Muslim, they are actually abetting the instability of our nation in political, economic and social terms. Their recklessness is mind boggling!

FEMA And Natural Disaster Funding: Political “Football” For The Republicans?

Ronald 6 Comments

The Federal Emergency Management Agency faces a daunting task dealing with all of the natural disasters that have hit America in 2011!

Hurricane Irene was the TENTH natural disaster of this year costing at least $1 billion, and there are four months to go!

The total natural disaster cost is reaching into the 40s and 50s in billions, with Irene estimated to be one of top ten all time natural disasters!

And this is on top of the tornadoes, floods, droughts, wildfires that have plagued us this year, and not including the Atlantic Earthquake or the new menace of Tropical Storm Lee menacing Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the panhandle of Florida!

The hurricane season is in full swing, and it looks as if there will be more tropical storms or hurricanes named than any year since 2005!

In the midst of this series of natural disasters, we are seeing Congressional Republicans playing politics with human suffering, protesting that FEMA is reaching its budget limit, and there is debate about whether they will gain additional needed funds to match the problems at hand.

Congressman Ron Paul has said FEMA is not necessary at all, and others are acting as if it is another financial boondoggle, when it is performing far better under Barack Obama than it did under George W. Bush.

Will there have to be a battle between President Obama and John Boehner, Eric Cantor, and Tea Party Republicans over such a basic need as government coming to the aid of victims of nature?

Is there any common decency left in the opposition party, or shall many unfortunate Americans become the victims of their narrow mindedness and pettiness?

We will see next week when Congress comes back from its month long vacation to deal with the many problems they just dropped, so as to go on vacation for a month, while many Americans could not afford a vacation!