Hurricane Helena devastation in NC!

[IlliniApp]

You should not have bit me. What is your definition of truth?

Jesus said I am the truth. Pontious Pilot said what is truth?

Maga has a problem with truth.

But what is truth? Is mine the same as yours?

 

[John Hassler]

Rather than spouting off what’s wrong with the relief effort how about we all pitch in whether it be with money or with a “let’s go team” cheer. In one/three/six months from now we, the American people, can ask our leaders to provide their assessment of what went right and what went wrong with the relief efforts so that positive change can be made.

In other words, the time to b*tch is later because right now it’s all hands on deck.

 

[RCA]

The funding for DHS, FEMA, and their various programs is multi-layered through multiple channels; FEMA is kind of in control of the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF), which is intended ONLY as a frontline defense for emergencies, while Congress decides on allocating additional funds for each major emergency. And these latter funds remain locked for use only for the given emergency for years. However, please note that almost every fund is marked as "discretionary" in their budget documents. FEMA supposedly can't divert funds from DRF. But all the funds go into one slush fund that can have funds "borrowed" for one cause or another - to be returned at some latter date. Ask the federal accountants and treasurers about the mechanics of doing that. But yes, they most likely CAN obtain funds from the DRF through bookkeeping machinations. Especially, when some of these funds have been sitting idle for more than a decade (e.g. where does the interest on these funds go?).

DHS budget is split into different programs, via itself, FEMA and the CBP (US Customs and Border Protection), and Emergency Food and Shelter Program - and they do this through a number of grants. It appears the grants for 2022-2024 amount to about $2B. Now, one could say it is really the DHS who is divying up its budgeted funds to different departments rather than FEMA.

FEMA takes the view, that once Congress allocates funds to the DRF, they remain with the DRF. But is that just an accounting ploy? So, yes, you can say a fund exists for the DRF of so many billions of dollars - on the books. But in reality, in the chart of accounts, cash assets can be replaced by debts (or notes) receivable, and when some auditor looks at these books, all the accounts still in balance, - and of course, they report precisely what they see in some report that goes to Congress oversight, who sees the Account Receivables booking and probably considers it just as normal as for any business, as long as the ratios are acceptable.

Now, Trump understands all of this gimmickry - but not the public. So what does Trump do? He simplifies things and leaves the details till later, which will never come, because the Democrat leadership is certainly intelligent enough to know how this works.

Then we have the Dodos on this forum, who think they understand what they are discussing, -- but should know better.

DHS Announces Distribution of More Than $77 Million in Congressional Funding for Communities Receiving Migrants | Homeland Security

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), announced more than $77 million in grants to support border and interior communities receiving migrants through the Shelter and Services Program (SSP).

www.dhs.gov

 

[J Grant]

Good grief. Why don't you fact-check Kamala Harris and Joe Biden? That is the logical retort. Donald Trump usually speaks without a script, so he exaggerates sometimes and sometimes doesn't get the facts quite correct. And he has his opinions, that you ought to well know are opinions, such as the assertion that the presidential election of 2020 was fraudlent in some areas - an opinion shared by many - but for which solid proof is lacking. We have the right to question the validity of the election process, that is in fact a good thing. In the past, Democrats have often accused the Republicans of stuffing the ballot box. Nothing new there.

Where do you draw the line between criticism and action? That is a grey area. The Democrats can in fact, and this IS verifiable, be accused of bring on the Jan 6 problems by not bringing more enforcement for the demonstrations. That is to say, the Democrats invited the problems of Jan 6, as much as the Republicans. Pelosi was at fault there, as well as other Democrats who the one in charge of managing the demonstrations.

You, Hassler and other leftist TDS folks on the forum are a total joke WRT your so-called "fact-checking".

It is not so called fact checking, it is fact checking. Try it sometime

 

[Zoe]

That dog did not stand a chance unless those people found a like 20 ft ladder in the rubbish. The dog was like 20 feet off the ground. Dogs don't climb trees. 20 foot drop and that dog was dead.

That tree was bowed out too like the water had just took every branch off of it and that dog found a landing spot.

Crazy.

 

[J Grant]

There's talk that the Democrats are sitting on billions of previously allocated FEMA funds that have not been used - and using them as their own "slush fund:"

MSN

tinyurl.com

Untapped relief: FEMA sitting on billions of unused disaster funds | The Highland County Press

While FEMA is expected to ask Congress for new money, budget experts note a surprising fact: FEMA is currently sitting on untapped reserves appropriated for past disasters stretching back decades.

tinyurl.com

,,,

"There's talk of" ,,,,,, a weasel word.

FACT CHECK IT and get back to us on it.

 

[J Grant]

But what is truth? Is mine the same as yours?

Truth refers to what can be verified, known, or observed. Perhaps fact and evidence is better verbgiate

You and I can have different opinions about facts or events, which is not the same thing as one of us (one side ) inventing their own version of events or facts ( with no evidence to support it)

The support is a rabbit hole of rumors , conspiracy theories, and falsehoods, sometimes with a kernel of truth buried in them to confuse the issue.

 

[RCA]

It is not so called fact checking, it is fact checking. Try it sometime

Fact checking is worthless in its own right. The question is whether incorrect assertions have any significant impact on the issue had hand.

Plenty of the MSNBC crap you put on this forum is nothing more than opinions. If not yours, then whoever is in the video clip you embedded. You are forever referring to views as if they were facts. - And not just because someone who agrees with your opinion is also of the same opinion, it is still an opinion. And invariably, these opinions are empty of any argument.

 

[McMurphy]

DeSantis is refusing phone calls from President Biden and Vice President Harris?

Okay.

You don't need help?

You don't get aid.

Azzhole

 

[RCA]

"There's talk of" ,,,,,, a weasel word.

FACT CHECK IT and get back to us on it.

if you read the second link:

'These “unliquidated obligations” reflect the complex federal budgeting processes. Safeguards are important so that FEMA funding doesn’t become a slush fund that the agency can spend however it chooses, budget experts said, but the inability to tap unspent appropriations from long-ago crises complicates the agency’s ability to respond to immediate disasters.'