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You won't believe how badly Kristi Noem bungled Texas flood response



Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's cost-cutting measures
at the Federal Emergency Management Agency slowed search and rescue efforts in
Texas by 72 hours, possibly costing some of the at least 120 lives lost in the
devastating natural disaster, CNN reported.

According to CNN, Noem created a new policy that requires her to personally
sign off on any costs greater than $100,000. The Urban Search and Rescue crews
seeking to be deployed to the Texas Hill Country—where hundreds of people were
swept away by the rapidly rising rivers after heavy rainstorms—met that
criteria.

But CNN reported that Noem didn't approve the deployment of those search and
rescue crews until Monday—three days after the floods swept through Texas.




 



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DHS tried to deny that Noem’s incompetence hindered the search and rescue
efforts. But their denial actually proved the CNN story.

DHS said in a post on X, “President Trump approved a Major Disaster
Declaration, hours after Governor Greg Abbott’s request. By Tuesday, FEMA had
deployed 311 staffers, providing support and shelter for hundreds of people.
Under President Trump and Secretary Noem’s leadership, DHS is reforming FEMA to
prioritize state-led, locally executed disaster response, as Texas has
exemplified.”

That means that CNN’s report was correct, that it took until Tuesday for FEMA
to deploy the search and rescue teams.

Noem appeared on “Fox & Friends” on Thursday, where she was asked about the
CNN report. But instead of providing evidence that she swiftly approved the
search and rescue teams, she only attacked CNN—classic deflection that did not
actually deny the report.

“CNN has a report accusing you of slowing the process in Texas,” one of the
hosts asked Noem, to which she replied, “Well there you go. Fake news CNN is
absolutely trash, what they are doing.”




 



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Noem, for her part, has implemented the cost-cutting measures in DHS that
hamstrung the search and rescue efforts in Texas even as she spends hundreds of
millions galavanting around the country and globe cosplaying for PR stunts and
visiting the torture camps she's gleefully sending immigrants to.

A Wall Street Journal report from April said Noem spent $9 million on a
television ad advising immigrants to self-deport.

She also sported a $50,000 Rolex watch on a visit to the CECOT prison in El
Salvador where the Trump administration illegally deported immigrants against
court orders. Noem is also seeking a $50 million private jet to transport her
to the stunts she's carrying out.

Turns out, Noem cares more about creating torture porn than she does about
saving lives.



Click here to check out this story on DailyKos.com.
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