Is it incompetence? Or are they intentionally letting Republican voters die?

Illegal immigrants - Let's give them free food, free housing, free whatever they want.

Hurricane Flooding - Oh what are we going to do? We can't be expected to help out every person in need!

This is a standard tool in the evil playbook. Feign incompetence when you're doing something evil on purpose. If it's just incompetent hurricane response, too bad, maybe they'll learn and do better next time. If they're intentionally ignoring hurricane victims because they spent all their money and resources on illegals, now there are tough questions that are going to be asked.

Always pretend to be incompetent so you don't get called out for being evil.

There's also private charities that are running circles around the government. Allegedly they're being blocked from delivering aid on their own.

So maybe another high calorie post is a waste... BUT

Another way to see this is that the assistance is going to be an absolute, complex logistical nightmare, no matter how many resources and $100 of M the federal gov dedicates (or says they dedicate) to the work. It's not just money to be spent, it's using that money to deploy resources (workers/troops/supplies/infrastructure repairs etc)

This disaster was regional: an area that appears to be a few hundred square miles in area. With most likely thousands if not tens of thousands of people either dead (buried in mud, underneath structures, bodies stuck in trees, bodies floating face up in waters, etc) or stranded (such as groups or individuals totally cut off from the outside by roads washed away, new water courses, and no communications.)

I haven't seen any specific statement of the approximate area of the major flood damage. I went to Google Maps on my desktop and drew a rough polygon around all of the "Flood Damage" notes on the map. I got a perimeter of about 320 miles and Maps says I drew an area of 4900 square miles.

For one thing: absolutely nobody outside of "command and control" for the region's rescue efforts will have ANY idea - maybe not even in the president's office - of exactly who is doing what. This is a similar problem to the armed forces branches seeking interoperability of their C&C systems.

So I surmise that at the very top of the command structure they are not intending to be Stalinesque. They are trying to spread out available resources to so that, for instance, very small groups stranded miles from any working electronics, shelter and food gets SOME attention and doesn't die from exposure. Just dumping a bunch of supplies in parking lots of CVSs and Rural Kings sounds all MAGA and shit but it may only help bootleggers and oversupply those who do not need stuff.

Also traversing this landscape will be dangerous as hell. Quicksand, deep mud, down electrical lines, etc.

I THINK the general approach from the top for this *has* to be to control and delegate operations.

Everyone protesting the treatment of volunteers, locals, donors, and/or other civilians and unfunded aid workers has to understand that the powers that be there don't want to start having to rescue amateurs who get into deep trouble.

This general idea explains why donated supplies are being commandeered. The people in obvious drop points are already fairly OK at least in survival terms.

I'm putting my most optimistic face possible on the conflict between FEMA, local law enforcement, donors, and even private organizations that are donating supplies.

Nobody on the ground most likely has a full picture where resources need to go "right now", so the authorities at the power apex are overcontrolling everything. Not even Trump or Musk, unless they are being fed current inside information about wastes and laziness of the system. People will see what they experience: like the private pilot that wanted to fly in to rescue some guy and the police said they'd arrest him on the spot if he took off.

Also, FEMA does confiscate supplies even from individuals, at other times. They are pricks if you are well prepared enough to own useful supplies.

IE: I read on Reddit (I think) some Puerto Rican guy posted about being there during a major hurricane. FEMA came in to assist and they took his personal generator. (They screwed him on it: they paid him exact list price but he had to pay $$$$ for shipping offshore to Puerto Rico when he originally bought it.)

Now PERHAPS the point of taking the genset was that the rescuers may run across someone else who needs power for CPAP or oxygen... They need it more than the dude whose property it used to be... maybe.

Maybe. My feeling from stuff I've read recently and in the past is that if there is any way you can rely on your own self, do so --- accepting help from FEMA can screw you over during the emergency because you then open your door to them snooping around on a fishing expedition.

My rosy picture still doesn't address pouring billions of FEMA funds into the hundreds of NGOs that have been grifting off of the southern border situation.

It also doesn't address "they're eating the dogs they're eating the cats THEY'RE EATING THE PETS".

SPRING... FIELD.

OH.. HI... O. Trump enunciates like Captain Kirk at times, lol.

Damn, we're on the map!!!

But just saying, this is a complex logistic problem overall. It's like "let's have a rolling dinner party for 5 million, 1/10 of whom are decomposing". Sort of.

PS not really necessary but: Yes, East Palestine too.

And, the FCC allegedly refused to deploy StarLink base stations in the region due to not meeting some technical criteria. Which is why you had Donald Trump/Elon Musk/a whole buncha volunteers buying Starlink stations out of pocket and handing them out.

FEMA and the US gov disaster relief have stratospheric trust issues with any Americans who are paying attention. Regardless if the confusion and abuse of people on the ground is logically explainable.

Maybe what I said above explains some or all of the chaos and unexplainable delays on help.

Maybe Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's administration is just that fucking callous and stupid.

Unclear at present. Maybe they're just stupid and right hand doesn't know what the left hand etc etc. Maybe our government is Goddamned evil and should be taken down.

Maybe maybe maybe...