The Absurd GOP

[Pat Mustard]

Even after ICE arrested his wife, this Trump supporter refuses to take down his MAGA flags and says he doesn’t regret voting for Trump:

“Trump is not trying to do anything bad. He wants the best for the country.”

Maybe he didn't liked his wife?  

As I said on another forum, it's cheaper than a divorce.

[Angrboda]

"The list killed itself."

- Youtube comment about an MSNBC report on the uproar over the Epstein list and Bondi's disavowal

[Fireball]

I saw where DJT Jr. was ranting about the Biden administration hiding the Epstein list, 2 years ago. These people are like little kids crying their eyes out, and when what they want appears, the tears magically stop.

[Angrboda]

FEMA Didn’t Answer Thousands of Calls From Flood Survivors, Documents Show

The agency laid off the contractors on July 5 after their contracts expired and were not extended, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter. Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, who has instituted a new requirement that she personally approve expenses over $100,000, did not renew the contracts until Thursday, five days after the contracts expired. FEMA is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

---

On July 5, as floodwaters were starting to recede, FEMA received 3,027 calls from disaster survivors and answered 3,018, or roughly 99.7 percent, the documents show. Contractors with four call center companies answered the vast majority of the calls.

That evening, however, Ms. Noem did not renew the contracts with the four companies and hundreds of contractors were fired, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter.

The next day, July 6, FEMA received 2,363 calls and answered 846, or roughly 35.8 percent, according to the documents. And on Monday, July 7, the agency fielded 16,419 calls and answered 2,613, or around 15.9 percent, the documents show.

Some FEMA officials grew frustrated by the lapse in contracts and that it was taking days for Ms. Noem to act, according to the person briefed on the matter and the documents. “We still do not have a decision, waiver or signature from the DHS Secretary,” a FEMA official wrote in a July 8 email to colleagues.

---

It was not immediately clear how FEMA’s responsiveness to calls after the Texas floods compared to its performance after past disasters. FEMA does not publicly release that data on a regular basis.

The agency did publish similar data on Oct. 29, 2024, days after Hurricane Helene barreled across the South and nearly three weeks after Hurricane Milton hit Florida. That information showed that the agency did not answer nearly half of the 507,766 incoming calls over the course of a week, E & E News reported.

Democratic lawmakers raised concern on Friday that Ms. Noem’s insistence on approving expenses over $100,000 had also delayed FEMA’s deployment of search-and-rescue teams to Texas. In a letter to David Richardson, FEMA’s acting administrator, the Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform wrote that Ms. Noem did not authorize the deployment of those teams until July 7, three days after the flooding began.

[arewethereyet]

Owning the libs...so much winning.

Flooded Texas County Turned Down Funds for Warning System From Biden Admin in 2021: 'We Don't Want to Be Bought'

A Texas county devastated by deadly flooding earlier this month rejected federal funds in 2021 that could have helped install a flood warning system, with local officials and residents arguing they didn't want to be "bought" by the Biden administration.

As far back as 2016, officials considered a $1 million siren and gauge system to warn both locals and the flood-prone region's many visitors, the Texas Tribune reported. But despite multiple meetings and FEMA grant applications, funding efforts repeatedly stalled, first due to missing mitigation plans, then due to shifting priorities after Hurricane Harvey.

[Fake Messiah]

This is what happens when Trump hires people based on their loyalty rather than their capabilities.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

This is what happens when Trump hires people based on their loyalty rather than their capabilities.

Apparently, Mexico sent water rescue teams and firefighters to assist in search and rescue efforts.

Suck on that, MAGAts.

Boru

[Ravenshire]

This is what happens when Trump hires people based on their loyalty rather than their capabilities.

Apparently, Mexico sent water rescue teams and firefighters to assist in search and rescue efforts.

Suck on that, MAGAts.

Boru

When foreign governments respond faster to a crisis than your own federal government, it's a sign to anyone not blinded by loyalty and partisanship that the wrong shit-bag is occupying the center seat.

[Fireball]

Did ICE take them back to Mexico?

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Did ICE take them back to Mexico?

Nah - these were trained people. ICE is only at their best when facing a terrified dishwasher, fruit picker, or landscaper.

Boru