Republicans don’t give a fuck about hurricane victims
not when there are political points to be scored
Ron DeSantis, the bobbleheaded fascist governor of Florida, continues to shower glory all over himself as the evilest pantload in the land.
remember when Bobbling Ron rounded up thousands of Florida’s migrants, handed them each a plane ticket to Anywhere But Here, and promised them that good jobs were waiting for them at their destination?
Ron then waved goodbye, and sent them off with a hearty ‘hey, have fun over in who the fuck cares, just get out my sight.’
when those lucky migrants landed in places like Sacramento and Martha’s Vineyard, they were all here we are, where are our jobs? — and stressed and overworked social workers replied huh? who are you? who told you there were jobs?
that was a super-fun abuse of human rights, wasn’t it?
hey, guess where the money for all those tickets came from: Ron fucking stole it — from a fund that was supposed to be used for state emergencies.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has spent at least $15.2 million in the first half of the year to address “illegal migration,” tapping a $500 million state fund that was made available to him to use for emergencies, records show.
but Uncle Jeff, I hear you asking, doesn’t Florida need that money for, y’know, hurricane preparedness and stuff?
sorry, pal, you just flunked Republican Civics 101. emergency relief money isn’t for silly things like emergency relief. that cash is there for political stunts, duh.
anyway, Ron can just get more, right? when the White House calls, he can just answer the phone and say yo homies, how about forking over some more moolah?
I mean, even a waste of oxygen like Ron wouldn’t do something idiotic like refuse to take the call and fuck over his own state, would he?
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is not taking calls from Vice President Kamala Harris about storm recovery just over a week after Hurricane Helene hammered parts of his state.
A source familiar with the situation said he was dodging the Democratic presidential nominee’s calls because they “seemed political,” according to a DeSantis aide.
what the fuck, Ron? the second major hurricane in weeks is bearing down on your state, and you’re playing stupid games? are you trying to win stupid prizes or something?
maybe Ron’s too busy to take the White House’s call. after all, he’s been dealing with a lot of shit lately. for one, he’s been rewriting Florida’s laws.
Gov. Ron DeSantis joined a loud chorus of Republican leaders combating efforts to ease greenhouse gas, signing into law a measure that removes references in state law to climate change and also bans offshore wind-energy generation in Florida.
With presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump dismissing climate change as a “hoax,” and vowing to undo President Biden’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, DeSantis’ action mirrors the GOP’s political messaging around the issue.
awesome work here, Ron. what an excellent use of your time. let’s all just stick our heads in the fucking sand and deny basic reality.
then there’s this.
On Oct. 3, DeSantis’ Department of Health sent a letter to at least one local NBC affiliate suggesting that prosecutors could bring criminal charges against the TV station for airing ads that encourage residents to vote for the amendment. The letter, first reported by investigative journalist Jason Garcia, asserted that the ads violate Florida’s “sanitary nuisance” law and that stations may commit a second-degree misdemeanor by carrying them, subjecting their employees to a 60-day jail sentence.
according to Florida law, a ‘sanitary nuisance’ is an act that “endangers the life or health of an individual. wherever he is right now, George Orwell is laughing his ass off at this ahem Orwellian abuse of language.
The agency claims that the advertisement in question is “false” and “dangerous” because it informs viewers that the state’s six-week ban imperils the life and health of pregnant women. But it is demonstrably true that Florida’s ban jeopardizes the well-being of women. Moreover, even if the ad exaggerated these harms—indeed, even if it were arguably false—it would still receive bulletproof First Amendment protections. And TV stations would have an insurmountable constitutional shield against any punishment for airing it.
bear in mind that all this is fuckery going on while Florida is recovering from one hurricane and preparing for a second.
anyway, maybe Ron assumes that he can get all the relief funds he needs from FEMA.
oh, wait.
House Speaker Mike Johnson would not commit to bringing Congress back to session to vote on additional aid for victims of Hurricane Helene during an interview on Fox News Sunday. Despite a written request from President Biden and from a bipartisan group of Representatives and Senators which included Rick Scott and Jared Moskowitz, Johnson said there was no need to call a special session before Congress officially returns after the November election.
that’s right: the party that scuttled a border bill so that Dear Leader could have an issue to run on besides I don’t want to go to prison, is now deliberately undermining FEMA so that Dear Leader can have a second issue to run on.
wrap your mind around that: millions of American citizens in hurricane-ravaged states are suffering needlessly because neither Donny Convict nor Republican leadership give one fuck about their lives — not when there are political points to be scored.
in fact, Donny and his Congressional lackeys aren’t just refusing to help with recovery efforts — they’re actively sabotaging them.
This devastation and despair is not enough for the extremist groups, disinformation agents, hucksters and politicians who are exploiting the disaster to spread false claims and conspiracy theories about it and the government’s response.
According to former President Donald Trump, the federal government is intentionally withholding aid to Republican disaster victims. Far-right extremist groups warn on social media that officials plan to bulldoze affected communities and seize the land from residents.
shocking, right? no one could have predicted that the party that lied about migrants eating cats would also lie about their own government’s response to a disaster.
the thing is, no Republican wants to be this guy.
after Hurricane Sandy tracked north in 2012 and devastated parts of the northeast, Obama came to survey the damage in New Jersey — and a grateful then-Governor Chris Christie was right there to warmly greet him.
it was the beginning of the end of Christie’s political career. the wingnut screech-monkeys flung feces and howled with outrage — how dare Chris Christie hug that Communist Muslim Barack HUSSEIN Obama!
(fun fact: the two never actually did hug.)
fast forward to today. no Republican wants to be seen helping Democrats — not even when their own constituents’ lives are at stake.
just ask Anna Paulina Luna.
Anna’s the crazypants MAGA Congresswoman whose district — Florida’s 13th — is directly in the path of Hurricane Milton.
here’s what Anna’s been up to lately.
Luna, an ally of former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump, was among a hundred Republican lawmakers who voted against a stopgap spending bill that recently replenished FEMA's disaster relief fund.
last night, she tweeted this abomination:
that’s right, Anna Paulina Luna — who voted against funding FEMA — is now blaming Komrade Kamala for ‘not doing her job.’
Orwell is laughing so hard right now that he just fell off his ethereal chair.
folks, a word on a different subject before I let you go: we’re doing some quarterly fundraising at my other venture, The Smirking Chimp. I’m leery of even mentioning it because if you’re one of the people paying to support my own writing here, you’re already doing god’s work and you’re already doing more than enough to help out. but if you’ve got five dollars that you absolutely wouldn’t miss and you do feel like supporting the Chimp, well, that just makes you twice the hero. the donation link is here, or you can go straight to paypal if you need no further convincing. and if you don’t care to donate, that’s totally cool, too, and we will not speak of this again. in fact, we never had this conversation. thanks for listening and that’s it from me for now.
I truly hate them all, and I'm not sorry about it either, and even though hate is not healthy it's the only option at this point.
Somehow this DeSantis shit is both shocking and also completely not shocking. G-d I fucking hate these people.