Op-ed:

The Politicization of Hurricane Ian...Part One

By: Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / Right Side Patriots / Right Side Patriots Radio

 

“You know, I’m happy to brief the president if he’s interested in hearing what we’re doing in Florida. You know, my view on all this is, you’ve got people’s lives at stake, you’ve got their property at stake, and we don’t have time for pettiness. We’ve got to work together to make sure we’re doing the best job for them. So I have not personally spoken with the president, but FEMA has approved our pre-landfall request.”

- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to reporter in the days leading up to Hurricane Ian's southwest Florida landfall

 

He asked for federal help as soon as he knew the hurricane was going to hit somewhere along the coast of southwest Florida. He knew it was going to be bad, so bad that the words being bantered about included two words no one ever wants to hear...Cat-5... meaning a hurricane with sustained winds of at least 158 mph...translation being destruction to the nth degree. And yet Biden still did not call Florida's governor until it was noticed by the press, and then did so only to let him know the steps the federal government would be taking to help Florida prepare for the hurricane...which in the scope of things turned out to be not much.

First it was expected to hit the Tampa Bay area but at the last minute what was now Hurricane Ian...just 2-mph short of being a cat-5...turned southeast and slammed directly into the Sanibel, Ft. Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and Cape Charlotte areas, destroying all of the once beautiful Sanibel and Captive islands...Pine Island to a bit lesser degree...and a full 80+% of Fort Myers Beach and Ft. Myers proper. And while Naples suffered severe damage, as did Sarasota and Cape Charlotte, they, thankfully, did not reach the overall cataclysmic damage the other areas did...areas now deemed by many to be akin to a war zone...areas that will take years if not a decade or more to rebuild.

And while all of Florida was affected, to some degree, by Ian, the now many thousands of newly homeless see all they worked and shrived for being taken away by Mother Nature's fury...minus the nonsense known as climate change...but know our paradise lost will become paradise once again...in due time. Rebuilding people's lives is now as important, if not more so, than rebuilding structures alone, but those on Florida's southwest coast know that the people of Florida always stand together in times of need. We did so during and in the aftermath of Hurricane's Andrew, Wilma, and Michael...to name but a few...and we will do so again for we now have a truly good man at Florida's helm...a man who someday will be President of these United States.

“At the end of the day, we are not going to allow lawlessness to take advantage of this situation. We are a law-and-order state, and this is a law-and-order community, so do not think that you’re going to go take advantage of people who’ve suffered misfortune.”             - Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

And so now begins the monumental clean-up task, a task made so much harder by the fact that the waters, which flooded the entire area, have yet to fully recede. And with 108 people now confirmed dead at this point, many due to drowning being unable to escape the hurricane's surge or its ever pounding rains. Water is everywhere...even first floors of homes that somehow survived Ian's fury see both water and mud...peppered with debris...inches deep inside homes no longer being able to be lived in. And yet to add insult to injury when some residents returned to try and salvage whatever they could, they found their homes had been looted of precious mementos and memories not lost to the storm itself, but lost because pieces of human garbage deemed them ripe for their picking.

So while Gov. DeSantis and others in law enforcement...others like Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceano who stated that, “We are not going to tolerate - and I mean zero tolerance - when we say anyone that thinks they’re going to thrive on the residents of this county or state when we just took a horrific hit” ...have issued forceful statements as to what will rightfully happen to those caught looting...liberal loons like MSNBC's Joy Reid foolishly claim that said warnings are akin to a “racist threat from a segregationist,” no matter that there is no mention of color nor ethnicity in any of said warnings. And while it's hard to believe that in the wake of such a nightmare that anyone would do such a thing to folks who basically have nothing left, it shows that partisan politics will always raise its ugly head no matter the situation at hand...as in “never let a good tragedy go to waste,”

And yet, even putting warnings aside, we find that the “element” of what I call “miscreants and thugs” are sadly doing what we hoped would not happen as looting... committed by ILLEGALS “of color” (as per The Epoch Times)...has indeed taken place. And so my beloved Florida's nightmare has now become a national disgrace for the misery of many has deliberately been made worse courtesy of the Democrat's racially based political agenda, its corresponding accusations and blame game, coupled now with race baiting tactics claimed to be but misspeaks.

And this latest in a series of anything but misspeaks all started with these words by VP Kamala Harris who stated...less than a day after southwest Florida experienced one of the worst hurricanes in Florida's history...words in regards to the monumental task of clean-up and rebuilding. Saying that, “We have to address this in a way that is about giving resources based on equity, understanding that we fight for equality but we also need to fight for equity understanding that not everybody starts out at the same place,” she then threw salt in the wounds of many by adding that, “It's our lowest income communities and our communities of color that are most impacted by these extreme conditions and impacted by issues not of their own making.”

Simply, race-bating of the very worst kind.

 

And so Kamala Harris deliberately and with malice intended not only reopened Pandora's Box of racial divisiveness and hatred, but she tried to turn Hurricane Ian's savagery into a predetermined lottery of sorts in regards to having one's skin color being the deciding factor as to which group of people receives hurricane aid before anyone else. And she did so solely to help garner votes of both black folks and folks “of color”...votes desperately needed for the upcoming mid-term election...never mind that her words were at the expense of her fellow Americans...Americans of all skin colors...Americans who have lost everything.

But being as clueless as she is...or maybe the word “evil” is best used here...what Kamala Harris' words really did was to shame good, decent, hard working black folks and others “of color”...folks who know well that hurricanes and other natural disasters are indeed colorblind...to shame those who are so tired of one's skin color driving today's political discourse that they are walking away from what the Democrats are trying to sell. And by her opening her mouth, Kamala Harris actually helped to highlight the fact that most of those already caught looting on Florida's now devastated southwest coast, to date, have been people “of color,” thus not only justifying Gov. DeSantis' and other's words, but seeing the bandage of the Democrats initiated racial wounds again being pulled off...just like her buddy Obama did a mere decade ago.

So while the Democrat controlled media still tries to walk-back or even justify Harris' words spoken, we sadly also find FEMA head Deanne Criswell saying that she agreed with Harris' words and that there are indeed people who have a “hard time and encounter barriers accessing aid,” but that “our (meaning FEMA's) programs support everybody.” But to her words I must say that no group of people have been catered to more, whether it be during good or bad times, than those who comprise the collective groups “of color.” And while Criswell added that, “FEMA will not be discriminating against white people who need help,” just her having to say this means that racial politics has indeed entered the fray. And so we best keep an eye on how this form of government aid is given out, and that it's done so in a fair and impartial manner...a manner totally blind to the color of one's skin.

But not to be outdone by FEMA's hurricane relief efforts, as was expected, yet another ugly political turn took place when a “continuing resolution” (CR) that needed to be passed by week's end...a resolution that would allow the government to stay up and running through mid-December...saw Florida’s Republican Representatives rightfully voting against it. And why did they do so? According to Democrat Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz...who thankfully had kept her always big mouth shut up to this point...“Florida Congressional Republicans not only failed every family reeling from the punch Hurricane Ian just landed in our state, but they just slapped away every American who reaches for a helping hand in a tragic time of need.”

Really Debbie, I think not, for the truth of why Florida's Republican representatives voted against the resolution was summed up best by our great Rep. Brian Mast who called Wasserman Schultz’s move an attempt to score “cheap political points” off a disaster, and that, “The bill they are attempting to grandstand off included no resources dedicated specifically to Florida disaster relief. It was funding for the entire government until mid-December at the same unsustainably high levels that have caused massive inflation.”

And Rep. Mast's truthful words were added to by fellow Republican Rep. Michael Waltz who stated that, “The Democrats’ refusal to pass an on-time federal budget and reliance on CRs is fiscally irresponsible and gives our military, including services that carry out search, rescue, and humanitarian efforts after natural disasters, limited resources,” and that, “The Democrats’ refusal to pass an on-time federal budget and reliance on CRs is fiscally irresponsible,” to which I add puts it mildly.

Also in regards to said irresponsibility Sen. Marco Rubio asked his now Democrat political opponent Val Demings, who publicly chastised him for his not supporting the resolution, “Why does Congresswoman Demings want a package (meaning the CR) loaded with unrelated spending instead of one targeting hurricane-specific aid for Florida?” Why indeed, what with fellow Florida Sen. Rick Scott also rightfully voting against the resolution with his reason being that, “Prior to Ian’s development, I made clear that I fully supported the proposed disaster funding for other states and urged (Senate Majority Leader) Sen. Chuck Schumer to put that up for a stand-alone vote. He refused and delayed this relief so he could use it as a political weapon to stick it in a CR that will end up fueling billions for Democrats’ radical agenda right before they lose power.”

How right both of Florida's senators are, and how said that Democrats see this disaster as but another means by which to “pork-up” their radical leftist agenda.

So now as state, local, and federal rescue crews continue their search for survivors...not yet being ready to say the dreaded words “recovery phrase”...thousands of homes and businesses remain without power. And today as I write this...this being October 6, 2022...Joe Biden and his nursemaid Jill...who chose to visit the commonwealth of Puerto Rico instead of the State of Florida first...has just landed in Ft. Myers to see firsthand the hurricane damage, to meet with Gov. DeSantis and other local officials who will brief him on the response and recovery efforts to date, and for Biden to say God only knows what. 

And that “what” along with a major “ooops” moment will be at the heart of next week's article, “The Politicization of Hurricane Ian...Part 2.”

Copyright © 2022 / Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / All rights reserved. 

 

*************************************************************************************         For more political commentary please visit my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner Craig Andresen's blog The National Patriot to read his latest article, Giorgia Meloni – The Italian Trump.

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RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS...LIVE!

 

Tomorrow, Tuesday, October 11th, from 7 to 8:30pm EST, RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS Craig Andresen and Diane Sori will discuss 'The Politicization of Hurricane Ian..Part One'; 'Giorgia Meloni – The Italian Trump'; and important news of the day. Hope you can tune in to RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS on https://rspradio1.com. Click 'LISTEN LIVE' starting at 6:50 pm EST with show beginning at 7pm EST.