US leaves Hurricane Helene survivors behind while funding Israel’s genocidal war. As the death toll from the storm climbs to 204, Congress has made no efforts to secure more disaster relief funding.
Congress has made no efforts to secure more disaster relief funding... Congress is now in recess until November 12, and while Biden had considered calling Congress back into session early to approve more FEMA funding, there has been no progress.
I love how both parties are like "Sure, there's an election in a month. But fuck anybody who needs help. What the fuck do we care? People will vote for us just because they hate the other party."
They hardly work at all. It's amazing how powerful simple propaganda can be - phrasing for example. They call their paid vacations "recesses" and Americans don't even pay attention.
In Ireland, before every election, we have what's called a "giveaway budget", where whoever is in government will give a bunch of random discounts and supports on stuff like electricity and college fees. They're supposed to make the government more popular before the election. They don't do anything to make economic conditions better and they're a pathetic attempt to make people like the government.
It's pure cynical politics, where for a month the government pretends to care. The USA can't even do that. They just let people in their country die, because they're spending all their money and time killing people abroad
In Poland we call that "election sausage" because in 90's it was literal sausage few times. The tradition is a lot older here though, around 400 years to the time of Commonwealth when magnates launched parties for nobles gathered in the election day.
Just 20 years ago a similar hurricane by the name of Katrina rocked the nation and was part of the 24 he news cycle for months. Katrina was (and rightfully so) a huge deal in America, and recognized as a mega traumatizing event.
It’s amazing to me how jaded the American public and media have become in that time, to where this disaster hardly even makes the news and is forgotten before it’s even joever.
I’m honestly not quite sure what to think of it. Have we become so calloused to the idea of climate change that this isn’t newsworthy? Is this more reflective of the corporate capture of media, and insurers not wanting to pay out for destroyed homes and lives? Or is this just secondary to the overriding effort to further a new war in the Middle East?
I think people no longer have the same expectations for the government to help them. The US government has told the public to go fuck themselves at every possible opportunity.
I think investors and the US government got a lot better at controlling the news during the Bush administration, and in the intervening 16-20 years, media people have built their entire careers in that environment. The state department gives the juiciest war news to people who parrot their press releases, so those people advance. The news companies are owned by billionaires with other more profitable investments than the news, who can block advancement for anyone who pushes a story that'd hurt one of those, including talking about climate change. People who do well in this sort of environment have had 20 years to float to the top, and don't need any special coercion to keep pushing the latest war and ignoring something that might be inconvenient to an investor.
Like fuck the death toll, it's horrendous but regardless of how many people died, these are towns and cities that have literally been scoured off the fucking map. People need help, fuck
These stories are so sad to me, but also very interesting. A lot of people I think go through life thinking that if something like this happens, the system will work-- insurance will cover the losses, and if nothing else the government has their backs, when nothing could be further from the truth. These are honestly golden radicalization opportunities.
It's pretty bleak to see though, when people have to realize they have been thrown to the wolves
Whatever they're telling us you know it's gotta be way, way worse. They had to canvas all the houses in NOLA before they could get an accurate count. Not sure if that's been done yet, or being undergone
Why is the government responsible for an act of God? Call your insurance company. Get what youre owed. Why is this confusing?
I'll take an imperfect democracy over a dictarship [SIC] every time and call it a win
Stein? Man, if I wanted a MAGA putin puppet I'd just vote for trump
Explain to me how student debt is somehow different from car debt, mortgage debt, and medical debt (!!!) such that borrowers should just be allowed to not pay it? Why is student debt special—especially when having a degree makes you MORE financially mobile.
So funny that a Trumptard is talking about being duped. The MAGAt cult is a sight to behold. [Response to a suggested 3rd party vote]
Heard a pretty harrowing story from my family there that a group of about 20 people came in for funeral, rented a big house in a rural area, and then the house was destroyed with them in it, killing them. Hearing all sorts of other things too, people being found dead in mud, under debris, etc. Everyone knows the death count must be much higher than just 200
Poor israelis with zero agency whatsoever. They just have to genocide Palestinians and treat them like vermin because the US has to funnel money into the MIC
I don't think the power dynamic is the other way. Netanyahu, Biden and every other American politician are just conjoined in their principled zionism and genocidal tendencies. The US has some interest in keeping the entire region destabilized, yeah. But that's hardly the point.