~~do as I say not as I do~~

Nintendo: Money! Fuck everything else.

All other attributes derive from that.

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.

I mean ever since XZ binaries are a no go. Like the trust is gone, the bridge is burnt, unless there’s like an insanely good reason, anything this heavy in BLOBs ought to be treated as suspect. Benefit of doubt isn’t coming back.

The number one person who mocks Trump the most is Trump.

You have to understand how Vance views the issue. For him abortion isn't a meet in the middle stance. Abortion to him and folks similar see the matter as only having one possibly correct solution.

Thus for him, "Americans instinctively mistrust us" doesn't mean that his position would evolve, it's that "to him", he's done a "bad job" making your stance evolve.

The hard line Republicans aren't interested in finding common ground, they're more interested in what you will change your opinion to or at the very least what unacceptable positions you'll tolerate. There is never going to be an evolution or common ground to be found with these folks because that's distinctly not the position that they are looking for.

That's vague, but I'll assume you mean funding directly for combat operations excluding VA hospital, vet benefits, DHS appropriations, etc. So that would come to $19.903T over that same period.

But the thing is that also excludes maritime trade protection and I don't believe brown kids sail boats towards shipping channels, but there could be possibilities where that is the case. Also that dollar figure doesn't have anything to do with the event being depicted in the picture. That's Israel's Iron Dome system and costs associated with that would not be reflected in the US military budget. That is funded by general transfer of funds. Good example of such is public law 117-103. Under Division C, Title VIII, Sec. 8142 which is page 209 of that PDF linked there.

So that number doesn't include that and it'd be a lot harder to get that number as the Government doesn't put out a spreadsheet for general transfer of funds. Though they ought to, because that would make tracking all of this a lot easier. It's not impossible to calculate that, the information is all there, it's just spread out and requires a bunch of leg work.

I have answered your question with a question

Things couch fuckers say.

Cycloheptane, the only way I'm getting a boat or a car.

Yes. The low ball estimates for just hurricane Helene is 100% FEMA’s annual funding for the next eleven years. That’s how destructive these disasters are.

We’re still paying for the 2013 Colorado flooding, the 2017 California wildfire, and 2022 Hurricane Ian, just to name a few.

People are completely missing how much climate change is truly costing us. Helene will be something we’re paying for easily for the next twenty years if not longer. $20B is not a lot of cash when compared to these events, not by a long shot.

The disaster hit areas will get funds. It will be rebuilt. But none of that happens overnight. The US has spent $1.79T on disasters since 1980. Hurricane Katrina alone costed about 190 Iron Dome Systems.

I get that there's always more we can do, and trust me I really dislike that a ton of our budget goes towards war and military. But I think people forget how absolutely massive the destruction is in some of these disasters and how much it'll cost to rebuild. I mean the conservative end of cost from Helene is eleven years of 100% of the funds annually allocated toward FEMA. And that's just a single disaster.

We're still spending FEMA money on the 2013 Colorado Flood because these disasters are that destructive, the 2017 California wildfires are still a 15 million a year recovery operation that's still on-going. There's even $15B earmarked for COVID-19 and it'll likely be the late 2020s or early 2030s when we finally see that fall off the FEMA spreadsheet.

I'm not trying to defend the wasteful expenses on military that we do, but things like those missiles in the picture are minuscule to the massive amount of destruction these disasters bring. And I think it's important to highlight that because it hopefully gives people some clue to the true cost of climate change.

It will likely benefit the State.

Does everyone just forget the aspect where it absolute enriches the guy but just “maybe, likely” benefit anyone else?

If only there was some middle ground between hard to eat chocolate and modern day slavery.