Note that FEMA monies come to coastal communities that get wiped out again and again by Hurricanes. So no more FEMA when Florida gets hit again?

Much of California is FEDERAL lands. 47+% according to a quick google search...

Not to be rude, but this is only an issue when a disaster hits a Democratic place when the current occupant is in office. Puerto Rico & California for instance. No one went after Florida (hurricane), Louisiana (Hurricane) or Texas (deep freeze electric outages) after their disasters. Not under Biden, Obama, Bush II, Clinton, Bush I, or Reagan.

IMHO this is just political payback. The question is whether this is OK for the current party in power to do given that they have a voters mandate.

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Wednesday, January 29, 2025 - 08:42 am: Edit

Haven't heard anything in a decade or more, Iowa had several major floods that swamped towns along one of the rivers...
Last delude occurred while Obama was President,
FEMA didn't even go there...
Because of issues with flood insurance, a number of buildings (similar to NOLA) burned to the water level.....

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Wednesday, January 29, 2025 - 10:27 am: Edit

Respectfully, Mike?

Katrina and New Orleans?

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Wednesday, January 29, 2025 - 10:35 am: Edit

Jeff: You forgot one of the California seasons.

WABBIT SEASON!

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Wednesday, January 29, 2025 - 11:52 am: Edit

Bolo, I would direct you to FEMA-1998-DR (27 Jun 2011), FEMA-4018-DR (30 Aug 2011), FEMA-4126-DR (2 Jul 2013), FEMA-4187-DR (5 Aug 2014), and FEMA-4289-DR (31 Oct 2016), all FEMA actions in response to flooding in Iowa during the Obama administration, with a combined public assistance cost estimate of $72,333,407. This is not a comprehensive list; it is just five of the larger FEMA actions in response to flooding in Iowa during the Obama administration I could find.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Wednesday, January 29, 2025 - 01:08 pm: Edit

Louisiana has had multiple big hurricane disasters. Ida and Cindy are two more.

Don't get me started on Florida disasters.

I'm just a boy who knows that if you build on a floodplain you are going to get wiped out sooner or later.

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Wednesday, January 29, 2025 - 03:28 pm: Edit

DUCK SEASON!! FIRE!!!

...

You're dessspicable...




(BTW: Don't tell the Qixa that it's wabbit season...)

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, January 29, 2025 - 03:34 pm: Edit

There is a difference between a natural disaster and a self-inflicted one. Florida hasn’t adopted ridiculous policies that aggravate hurricane damage. Texas didn’t predict a once in 500 years freezing event. Floods are another matter and I enthusiastically agree that rebuilding in a flood plain should be banned, but Federal flood insurance says go right ahead. I don’t agree with the EPA declaring private property that hasn’t seen water in living memory to be a “historic wetland” and prohibit construction where nothing has ever been built.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Wednesday, January 29, 2025 - 03:52 pm: Edit

@Jeff: LOL. Perfect!

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Wednesday, January 29, 2025 - 05:27 pm: Edit

I live in Amarillo which is part of "west Texas" even though we are about as far north in Texas as it is possible to be (about the center of the panhandle even with Oklahoma City). It has been at least the second or third dry winter in a row with little rain in the period (much less much snow or ice). Still, no sign of wild fires here rolling in over the plains.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, January 29, 2025 - 06:13 pm: Edit

North Texas is north of Dallas which is southeast of Amarillo by 450 miles (About 200 miles south of Amarillo). It got that regional name back when the "high plains" where Amarillo sits were occupied only by First Nations people, mostly Comanches.

DHS has stopped all grants to NGOs that use the money to help illegal aliens stay in the US. One must ask why Biden was doing this.

I might also comment that the area of Texas southWEST of Amarillo, farther west than "West Texas", is called "Big Bend Country" not "Farther West Texas".

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Thursday, January 30, 2025 - 01:07 am: Edit

Air Collision at Reagan. Seems a Chopper ran into a Private jet coming in on approach at roughly 400 feet traveling 140MPH...and the fireball was very visible and looked (from a distance) to be from the side or rear. Wreckage seems to have gone into the river. Last I had heard there were 4 survivors (so far). Prayers to all involved.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Thursday, January 30, 2025 - 07:32 am: Edit

Specifically, a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 collided with a U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk, with both crashing into the Potomac. Oh, and it's already a diplomatic incident, because Russian figure skaters were aboard; the PSA flight was returning from a competition in Wichita KS. Early reports of survivors appear to have been premature.

By Jason E. Schaff (Jschaff297061) on Thursday, January 30, 2025 - 08:07 am: Edit

News briefing on the crash at DCA in process. Confirmed by the director of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority that there are no survivors from either the plane or the helicopter.

Current report is that there were 64 aboard the plane and 3 aboard the helicopter. 28 bodies recovered as of 7:30 am local time.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Thursday, January 30, 2025 - 01:01 pm: Edit

Wrong topic, Bolo.

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Thursday, January 30, 2025 - 04:22 pm: Edit

The statement my reply was to, is in this one.....

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, January 30, 2025 - 04:44 pm: Edit

Wrong Mark,it’s in another topic, marked for no replies. I moved your post.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Thursday, January 30, 2025 - 06:51 pm: Edit

Cause of the collision has yet to be determined (though a certain fellow residing at a prestigious address on Pennsylvania Avenue has already declared it was due to DEI; you have no idea how much I wish I was making that up). The airspace situation at Reagan has always been precarious, and apparently both aircraft were on normal flight plans and approach lanes for craft of their type. It was a crystal-clear night; weather was not a factor.

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Thursday, January 30, 2025 - 07:27 pm: Edit

One thought I was given about the crash,
(from a Fed Marshal who lives in my area, who is a pilot with many flights in that area)...
When ATC informed the Helo Pilot about the Airliner, and acknowledged (several times)....
It is believed that a second a/c a few degrees to the left was what the helo was actually seeing....
Said a/c can be seen in a video, just as the explosion of the crash was filmed.....
The marshal says the ambient light is so bright, that night vision wouldn't have been used....

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Thursday, January 30, 2025 - 07:37 pm: Edit

That's entirely possible. We'll have to wait and see what the NTSB finds.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, January 30, 2025 - 09:40 pm: Edit

The FAA is short of controllers, and it seems the helo pilots may have misunderstood which airplane they were being warned about. There should have been two controllers not just one covering that area. It is a fact that part of the shortage of controllers was caused by a lack of candidates who met DEI quotas. It is not confirmed that the specific shortage on that shift had anything to do with that known fact.

Blaming DEI on general principles isn’t helpful, but it is a fact that Obama and Biden lowered ATC hiring standards in order to recruit a broader even if less capable employee pool. Trump raised the standards and ended the quotas, hiring on merit alone. It remains to be seen if the specific controller on duty was hired on the lower or higher versions of the standards. It is a fact that Obama rejected hundreds of ATC candidates who met the higher standards but not the DEI quotas. It is a fact that Biden lowered Trump’s standards and imposed DEI quotas and rejected some number of people who met the higher standards but not the DEI quotas.

On the other hand there have been no major crashes in sixteen years.

We will know everything soon enough.

Trump should shut the Hell up about DEI unless and until he has specific facts proving that a given employee was a low qualified quota hire. For what it is worth, refusing to hire high qualified people of any group to hire lower qualified members of a different group for a public safety job is wrong.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Thursday, January 30, 2025 - 10:20 pm: Edit

Quote: On the other hand there have been no major crashes in sixteen years.

True but only due to pure luck. There have been countless near-missed and forced go-arounds caused by ATC error and/or pilot confusion.


Garth L. Getgen

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, January 31, 2025 - 12:00 am: Edit

There were 19 near misses nationwide in 2023, the highest number in many years. 2024 was almost as high.

By John Wyszynski (Starsabre) on Friday, January 31, 2025 - 07:26 am: Edit

There are a lot of people questioning why the a military flights in a "civilian" airspace. The reality is that there are civilian flights in what is really a military exclusion zone. Look at what is around that airport. Within about two miles is the military command center (Pentagon) of the US, the executive HQ, the legislative HQ, and judicial HQ. We refused to learn the lesson of 9/11. Why? Because of the selfishness of Congress, who will not give up the convenience of their airport. It is not only a safety nightmare, but a huge national security risk.

National airport should be shutdown and converted to a heliport if anything. Create a robust system out to Dulles and BWI.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Friday, January 31, 2025 - 07:58 am: Edit

You're not wrong, Starsabre.