Tag: disaster

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President Issues Major Disaster Declaration For Texas

President Joe Biden

President Joe Biden
President Joe Biden (image via Twitter/POTUS)
President Biden has issued a major disaster declaration for Texas unlocking more federal resources to assist the state. Biden also announced plans to visit the state next week. The president signaled he didn’t want a presidential arrival to interfere or burden the current rescue/repair efforts. From CNBC:

President Joe Biden has approved a major disaster declaration for Texas as the state grapples with widespread power outages and water shortages amid freezing winter conditions, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced on Saturday.

The action unlocks federal funding for individuals in Texas, grants for temporary housing and home repairs and low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses.

The declaration also provides funding for cost-sharing with state and local governments and some private nonprofit organizations for emergency protective measures and hazard mitigation measures. Dozens of counties will be able to access the aid.

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Ted Cruz Takes Family On Cancun Vacay While Texas Freezes

The daughter of far-right, anti-LGBTQ Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) just came out as bisexual?

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)
Being a native Texan, I’ve been checking in on my brother and friends who have been severely impacted by the terrible freezing cold catastrophe happening in the Lone Star state. As I’m sure you’ve seen, there are rolling blackouts (or just plain ‘blackouts’) happening across the state. My brother, like many Texans, went without water for a few days. And now 7 million residents are being told to boil water before drinking it as water treatment plants haven’t gotten back up to speed. First, Gov. Greg Abbott tried to blame the power outages on the Green New Deal which isn’t even effective legislation anywhere. Abbott pointed to wind towers freezing as a big part of the problem when wind only makes up about 7 percent of the state’s power. The real problem has apparently been the fact that natural gas lines froze, plus Texas has refused to spend any money on its energy infrastructure in forever. Warmer weather is thankfully on the horizon (my weather app says temps will get back up in the 40s on Saturday), but Twitter flipped out last night when it was discovered Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) boarded a plane for a family vacation to Mexico while his constituents are in the midst of a statewide emergency. Fox News reports:

Sen. Ted Cruz flew to Cancun, Mexico, with his family this week as Texas dealt with a winter storm that left millions without power, Fox News has confirmed.

Photographs of Cruz, R-Texas, at an airport began circulating on social media late Wednesday, with people alleging that the senator had left the state for Cancun amid a major crisis. A Republican source told Fox News that the allegations Cruz was traveling to the Mexican city are true.

“The photos speak for themselves,” the source said. Cruz’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Thursday morning.

Cruz put out a statement saying his family asked to go on a vacation so he accompanied them to Cancun but meant to return today. But there are reports his original return ticket was for Saturday. Not a good look abandoning your state during an enormous natural disaster, Rafael.

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CNN Trolls Trump With List Of Recent White House Debacles

CNN’s Brooke Baldwin read a list today, in no particular order, of White House disasters from just the last four weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency.

The list includes classic Trump hits such as hiring (and firing) “The Mooch,” cutting Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon loose, shaming Attorney General Jeff Sessions, making up congratulatory phone calls from the Boy Scouts and the Mexican president, threatening nuclear war with North Korea and more.

Trump supporters will accuse CNN of bias, but the fact of the matter is America has never seen a White House in this much disarray. And, every single news story listed did happen.

Watch, and enjoy.

(h/t JoeMyGod)

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Very close “almost disaster” at Barcelona Airport as two planes vie for same runway

You have to assume this was the air traffic controller mixing things up?

From The Telegraph:

Footage shows a Boeing 767 from the Russian airline UTair coming in to land on a runway at Barcelona’s El Prat Airport. But with the plane just feet from touching down, an Aerolineas Argentineas Airbus A340 slowly taxis across the runway, forcing the still-airborne pilot to respond to the emergency by pulling back into the air.

The quick-thinking pilot of the UTair jet landed the plane safely after circling around.