"FEMA also been accused by former president Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, and other Republicans of not being able to respond well enough to Helene because it had diverted disaster relief funds to help migrants.

That is not true, because while FEMA administers the Shelter and Services Program, funding for it comes from a separate pot of money funded by Congress for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Other false claims that have circulated include that people taking federal relief money could see their land seized or that that $750 is the most they will ever get to rebuild. FEMA has pushed back against the false claims and conspiracy theories, setting up a page on its website to combat misinformation and rumors."

  • dumples@midwest.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    8 months ago

    People with political incentive to make the government to look bad are actively trying to make the government helpful response worse. I hope people are seeing how dangerous Trump and these right wing nutjobs are to normal people and normal Republicans

  • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    8 months ago

    Trump has now successfully sown distrust in FEMA.

    FEMA. An agency created to help people recover from natural disasters.

    We can put that right up on the list with news organizations, the Department of Education, our election system, and children’s hospitals.

    The damage that Trump has done to this country will take decades to recover from. If we ever can. You figure, with the 3 stooges on the bench willing to carry on Trump’s legacy, we’re looking at 40 years minimum of lingering Trump fuckery.

    And there’s a very good chance he’ll become President again. At that point, we as a country deserve whatever we get.

    • rayyy@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      we as a country deserve whatever we get.

      That would be death, destruction and collapse - enjoy.

    • Railcar8095@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      At that point, we as a country deserve whatever we get.

      I’m not saying this isn’t true, just please don’t drag the rest of the world with you. Psychos in the world are taking notes, if Trump wins they’ll follow his lead.

    • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      TBF, the crazies have been talking about deranged things in relation to FEMA for decades. Like everything else, dementia donnie did not build that, he just walked in the front door and put his name on this shit.

      For instance, the hatriot radio types were talking about Clinton’s “FEMA death camps” way back in the 90s.

      • mostdubious@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        thank you. i’m glad somebody has a memory longer than last week. this also feeds right back into my belief that it is not the politicians that are the problem (they’re just a symptom), it’s conservatives in general. if we are going to live in a society, they have to be removed from it.

        • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          As to the last part, the reason cons fight so hard against a properly liberal (in every meaning of that term) education is because they know that getting a proper education is highly likely to NOT churn out a reprogrammable meatbot ready for Republicans to dump propaganda in their heads…

          • mostdubious@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            8 months ago

            and while i agree that people should get a proper liberal education, higher learning has been watered down to accommodate all the idiots that don’t want to be there but have to have a degree to join the workforce. there are people who actually want to deep dive into their studies but are subjected to dumbed down classes.

            so there’s a part of me that doesn’t want them to be there. honestly, i think people should take trade courses for certification and leave higher learning to those who are higher learners.

            and both should be free.

            and you should have to pass a knowledge test in order to vote.

            • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              8 months ago

              higher learning has been watered down to accommodate all the idiots that don’t want to be there but have to have a degree to join the workforce.

              This. This, this, this, this, this.

              We spent decades telling people, some of which quite frankly have no business in college, that college is literally the only path forward. And then when all of these people show up and find college to be way, way too hard for them, we continued to (and continue to) dumb down the education we provide so more people will graduate with increasingly worthless degrees.

              It’s how we’ve traditionally handled everything in the US. Rather than give people the tools to rise up to meet the standards, we simply drop the standards and then wonder why so many so-called college graduates having no clue what they’re talking about.

              But the graduation percentages are all that matters. Push them through the system for 13 years, give them the same diploma that you give students who actually earned it, and then wonder why employers consider diplomas in general worthless. And the same thing is happening with college degrees now.

              • mostdubious@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                0
                ·
                8 months ago

                But the graduation percentages are all that matters.

                capitalism ruins everything. this is literally the money changers in the temple. the only temple that actually matters.

            • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              8 months ago

              I think our schools should start teaching critical thinking, media literacy and how to spot and name logical fallacies from a very early age and all through the 12th grade. You don’t have to be university-bound to learn this stuff; this should be foundational. It also gives people the tools to be more autodidactic - the poorly-educated talk about how they “did their own research” and others should do this, too. With proper instruction, I would actually think this is a good thing; however, for people who are primed for nonsense and not armored with critical thinking skills, this often does not turn out well. Otherwise, with a properly educated citizenry, I would think “doing your own research” would not have the negative connotation it now does.

              But schooling should be done in such a way that people can, and have the will to, learn new things.

    • frezik@midwest.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      As usual, Trump only amplifies something that was floating around for decades. FEMA has long been the target of conspiracy theories. You can get a taste of it from the old X-Files movie. Being a federal department that gets to do extraordinary things in emergencies tends to make it a target.

      • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        I somewhat disagree with this.

        The conspiracy theories that have been floating around were the typically outlandish and unrealistic conspiracy theories of the time. You know, like the moon landing being fake. And with social media being nonexistent and the conspiracy theories being so batshit crazy, it was near impossible for these theories to gain any kind of critical mass or be taken seriously.

        And Trump doesn’t amplify existing things. He creates conspiracy theories around literally everything and just hopes some of them stick. Mostly around migrants. Or he ties them back to migrants.

        FEMA? Fema can’t help you because they gave all their money to the migrants. Child Care? Gas? Those would plummet in price if we just got rid of all the migrants, if you believe what Trump said at the debate. 20,000 Hatians in Ohio? If we were to just get rid of them, it would solve whatever problems your state is having too! Judges in his trials can’t be impartial because they have Mexican heritage.

        The real problem is that there are far more openly racist people in our country than we were willing to admit to. We all have that creepy Uncle Joe in our family that only comes around for holidays, looks at his niece just a little too long, and spends half the day spouting racist bullshit, but never really considered just how many Uncle Joes there are in this country. Trump realized that and has simply been tapping into their racism ever since. That’s all it is. Trump has simply coralled the most gullible and racist into one huge voting bloc, and we severely underestimated how big that bloc could get.

        And now it’s too late. There are enough of them in this country where they are openly embracing the racism and saying “Yeah, we want it this way.” And theree may be enough of them to get what they want.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        People forget the conspiracy theories from Katrina. Where they accused FEMA of stockpiling body bags in New Orleans before the hurricane. And of course the 9/11 conspiracies which weren’t helped by the Bush administration actually lying to make sure we ended up in not one, but two wars.

      • Ultraviolet@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        edit-2
        8 months ago

        The difference is back then, it was relegated to the insane fringe. The premise of the X-Files is “what if all those farfetched conspiracy theories were true”, evil FEMA was in the same category as cryptids and alien abduction. Now it’s part of the platform of the second largest political party in the country. It’s roughly equivalent to campaigning on killing Bigfoot, if not worse because at least the latter is harmless.

  • BigMacHole@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    8 months ago

    REAL Americans who Care about One Another Just as Jesus intended THREATEN TO MURDER AID WORKERS, CALL IN BOMB THREATS TO CHILDRENS HOSPITALS and FIGHT KIDS IN SCHOOLS!

      • tabarnaski@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        Not OP, but I guess it shows the general loss of confidence in institutions in the US. When people wanna shoot their guns at disaster relief organizations, it indicates they don’t trust anything from the government, and the feeling is more than just skepticism, it’s heinous.

    • dethedrus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      Sadly I wasn’t wondering. Just watching the country implode very quickly, only for an equally horrifying explosion coming all too soon.

      There will be mass violence if Trump wins or loses. Far more manageable if the latter, but democrats are masters of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

  • Roflmasterbigpimp@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    8 months ago

    How the fuck are people who are this STUPID allowed to own Firearms? It’s a mircale that these cavemen even know how to operate firearms. What’s next? Shooting at the Hurricane? Attacking Firefighters?

  • rxin@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    8 months ago

    FEMA […] been accused […] of not being able to respond well enough to Helene because it had diverted disaster relief funds to help migrants

    so if they are dead they will surely do a better job?

    • thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      the article isn’t really getting into the conspiracy theories that are actually causing this.

      it’s more qanon style “fema is the secret police enforcement arm of the deep state coming to do their dark bidding on you the one time you’re vulnerable and no one will see or believe you”

      that’s what they believe that makes them want to kill them. generally speaking.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      Because there’s three modes of call up for the NG. Law and order, for riots and such. Which is what your thinking of, and where they get their rifles and can arrest people. Federalization, where they generally get all of their gear and they generally go into combat overseas. And disaster response, where they only get rescue gear and no authority to arrest or shoot at anyone.

      In short they didn’t do anything because they weren’t armed and weren’t authorized to use force.

    • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      Mainly because after the pr disasters of ruby ridge and then Waco, right winged militia’s grew in numbers, basically using the events as marketing materials.

      Right winged grifters love it when they are confronted, it fulfills all their fantasies about the underdog standing up to authority, and proves in their minds that they were correct the whole time.

      Since the American fascist movements have legitimized news organizations that will echo their claims, it’s extremely hard to actually crack down on them without turning them into Martyrs.

      The end result has been the federal government putting right winged extremists on the back burner for the last 30 years, allowing them to fester into the infection we know and hate today.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        Not even. They aren’t called up in a law and order capacity. They simply don’t have their guns or authority to arrest anyone.

      • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        You are right. Maybe a much better thing would be to video them, make sure it’s good enough to identify all of them, then issue a warrant to kick open their doors at pre-dawn times, individually and when they aren’t wearing their dopey Meal Team 6 gear.

        Make sure to give the media the heads-up, too, so there is lots of humiliating footage of them being frog-marched out of their house…

      • jpreston2005@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        I think now that we’ve successfully prosecuted the Jan. 6th domestic terrorists, we can put this notion to rest. We absolutely can and should go after these nutjobs threatening federal workers.

        • GoofSchmoofer@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          While there have been successful prosecutions of the J6 terrorist, there is still an ongoing campaign to try to whitewash J6 as peaceful tourists that have been unfairly singled out due to their political affiliation. So while I agree, we do need to go after these people we there also needs to be a push to stop the gaslighting that happens

        • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          It was successful? Many of them are still on the loose. And they are getting the lightest of sentences, when they should all be getting charged with terrorism.

        • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          I think now that we’ve successfully prosecuted the Jan. 6th domestic terrorists, we can put this notion to rest.

          Except that the feds had their kiddy gloves on for sentencing… Out of the thousands of people there only a small percentage have caught charges that drastically change their lives, and even then not to the point of treason nor terrorism charges.

          We absolutely can and should go after these nutjobs threatening federal workers.

          I agree, but I don’t see it happening any time soon. Not when the person who led them is still considered appropriate for the highest position in the land to half of the electorate.

  • NutWrench@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    8 months ago

    The red state governors are just mad because they can’t divert the FEMA funds directly into their own causes. (and pockets).

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    8 months ago

    I pointed out to someone that the SSP money for helping migrants was separate from the billions in the FEMA budget.

    The response I got?

    'I don’t give a shit. We shouldn’t be spending any FEMA money on illegals and should be helping Americans instead."

    They don’t listen. They don’t care. They don’t want to know.

  • Jerb322@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    8 months ago

    It’s “The Running Man” plot! They are just going to AI videos to fit a narrative, and start sending people to jail, or worse…