Donald Trump and his congressional accomplices are now trying to take the unprecedented step of tying aid for California fire victims to forest management policies in which they claim California has been somehow remiss. This demonstrates the utter incompetent ignorance of Washington DC Republicans who understand nothing about public policy and nothing about our state.
1. There has never been a natural disaster in which federal recovery funds were tied to conditions. If we want to start tying aid to risk mitigation, we should start with tying aid for recovery from the hurricanes, tornadoes and floods in mostly RED states that are far more directly tied to their policies of refusing to take any steps to rein in climate change. In any case, fire risks have no relation to the absurd notion of “raking the forests” or anything else. Like red state hurricanes, floods and tornadoes, a far more direct cause is CLIMATE CHANGE that they refuse to help mitigate.
2.The state of California owns and operates only 3% of forest lands in the state. The federal government owns and operates 58%, and the rest is in private hands. If Trump wants to blame forest mismanagement, as he also did in his first term, he needs to look to his own federal government for which HE is responsible.
3. California, like many other successful blue state economies, is a net DONOR state. WE send far more money to the federal government than what we take back in benefits, because we have to cover the economic failures of the failed red state economies which tend to represent most of the net TAKER states that take more money than what they send to the federal government.
I think we are going to see people start moving out of high risk zones, be it wildfires, flooding, or hurricanes. The impetus for the move will be the inability to get homeowners insurance. Some states like Florida and California have started a state funded insurance pool. I’m not sure this will work, the potential liabilities are huge and will quickly drain that pool of funding. The LA wildfires wiped out entire neighborhoods of multi-million dollar homes. No insurance company can cover losses like that and neither can the state.
The politicians can’t say this, but I will. Those neighborhood should not be rebuilt. That land should be cleared and allowed to go back to nature.
If people can’t get insurance on their homes, they will move to less risky areas. The numbers could be very large, in the millions over the next decade or so. This will profoundly change both the states they move away from and the states they move to.
The insanity spewing from Traitor Trump and his cultists is worrisome, but not as much as things like getting rid of inspector generals in federal agencies, to make corruption easier and more frequent.
My neighbor cleaned all the brush from the 10 acre across the street. I feel much better, knowing the “woods” will not go up in flames and burn down the neighborhood. No illegals were used, just Cats and Bobcats.
Since we still can’t post comments on political toons — anyone see the PHENOMENALLY obtuse toon that Al Goodwyn just posted? Where he suggested that Trump just shuffled to the left, becoming a centrist, causing the Democrats to find him so icky they moved so far left that they fell off a cliff?
If people here in the USA think that lots of people will be moving about internally to avoid environmental catastrophes in the high-risk areas where they live, I’d like them to stop for a bit and consider what it’ll be like for India and Myanmar when rising oceans and torrential rains wipe out most of naboring Bangladesh, 8th-most populous nation on Earth (173 million people in an area the size of Iowa), with an average elevation of 279 feet above (current) sea level; laced with the Brahmaputra, Padma, Chittagong, and Meghna Rivers; and at the funnel-focus top of the Bay of Bengal, where typhoons go to die. Climate refugees will lead to massive destabilization in an already only semi-stable part of the world — which, it should be noted, also contains two nuclear powers.
DD Wiz 2 days ago
Donald Trump and his congressional accomplices are now trying to take the unprecedented step of tying aid for California fire victims to forest management policies in which they claim California has been somehow remiss. This demonstrates the utter incompetent ignorance of Washington DC Republicans who understand nothing about public policy and nothing about our state.
1. There has never been a natural disaster in which federal recovery funds were tied to conditions. If we want to start tying aid to risk mitigation, we should start with tying aid for recovery from the hurricanes, tornadoes and floods in mostly RED states that are far more directly tied to their policies of refusing to take any steps to rein in climate change. In any case, fire risks have no relation to the absurd notion of “raking the forests” or anything else. Like red state hurricanes, floods and tornadoes, a far more direct cause is CLIMATE CHANGE that they refuse to help mitigate.
2.The state of California owns and operates only 3% of forest lands in the state. The federal government owns and operates 58%, and the rest is in private hands. If Trump wants to blame forest mismanagement, as he also did in his first term, he needs to look to his own federal government for which HE is responsible.
3. California, like many other successful blue state economies, is a net DONOR state. WE send far more money to the federal government than what we take back in benefits, because we have to cover the economic failures of the failed red state economies which tend to represent most of the net TAKER states that take more money than what they send to the federal government.
kingdiamond69 2 days ago
If he somehow eliminates FEMA the red states are screwed without the blue states money how will they recover and rebuild their weather ravaged states?
akachman Premium Member 2 days ago
How about we rake that orange traitor over some coals?
Bruce1253 2 days ago
I think we are going to see people start moving out of high risk zones, be it wildfires, flooding, or hurricanes. The impetus for the move will be the inability to get homeowners insurance. Some states like Florida and California have started a state funded insurance pool. I’m not sure this will work, the potential liabilities are huge and will quickly drain that pool of funding. The LA wildfires wiped out entire neighborhoods of multi-million dollar homes. No insurance company can cover losses like that and neither can the state.
The politicians can’t say this, but I will. Those neighborhood should not be rebuilt. That land should be cleared and allowed to go back to nature.
If people can’t get insurance on their homes, they will move to less risky areas. The numbers could be very large, in the millions over the next decade or so. This will profoundly change both the states they move away from and the states they move to.
ChukLitl Premium Member 2 days ago
A lovely area where a bit burns every year. Your bit may be good for a generation, or not. Best zoned for fishers & nomadic herders.
monya_43 2 days ago
First of all, in order to rake the ocean floor, you’d need a very long handled rake.
Also, IIRC, the orange criminal47 did suggest that we could nuke hurricanes.
carlosrivers 2 days ago
The people that would actually do a job like this are being kicked out of the country right now…
Amra Leo 2 days ago
I liked the picture of the lady vacuuming the forest. Granted, that was It’s last term, but still…
mokspr Premium Member 2 days ago
Sadly that would be a step up from nuking the hurricanes.
Godfreydaniel 2 days ago
The insanity spewing from Traitor Trump and his cultists is worrisome, but not as much as things like getting rid of inspector generals in federal agencies, to make corruption easier and more frequent.
drivingfuriously Premium Member 2 days ago
My neighbor cleaned all the brush from the 10 acre across the street. I feel much better, knowing the “woods” will not go up in flames and burn down the neighborhood. No illegals were used, just Cats and Bobcats.
ncorgbl 2 days ago
You’d think by now no one would be following tRump’s suggestions for natural disasters and pandemics. Or the economy, for that matter.
calliarcale 2 days ago
Since we still can’t post comments on political toons — anyone see the PHENOMENALLY obtuse toon that Al Goodwyn just posted? Where he suggested that Trump just shuffled to the left, becoming a centrist, causing the Democrats to find him so icky they moved so far left that they fell off a cliff?
Richard S Russell Premium Member 1 day ago
If people here in the USA think that lots of people will be moving about internally to avoid environmental catastrophes in the high-risk areas where they live, I’d like them to stop for a bit and consider what it’ll be like for India and Myanmar when rising oceans and torrential rains wipe out most of naboring Bangladesh, 8th-most populous nation on Earth (173 million people in an area the size of Iowa), with an average elevation of 279 feet above (current) sea level; laced with the Brahmaputra, Padma, Chittagong, and Meghna Rivers; and at the funnel-focus top of the Bay of Bengal, where typhoons go to die. Climate refugees will lead to massive destabilization in an already only semi-stable part of the world — which, it should be noted, also contains two nuclear powers.