Kierstjen Nielsen with a silent J: Rachel Maddows Damning Story on Role in Hurricane Katrina
Yikes. Was this on purpose or just plain incompetence?
Couldn't find the video at the link, but story is written (from last October)
Watch: Rachel Maddow’s Damning Story on Kirstjen’s Nielsen’s Role in Hurricane Katrina Failure
https://americasvoice.org/blog/kirstjen-nielsen-role-hurricane-katrina/
Last week, Donald Trump announced the nomination of Kirstjen Nielsen, currently deputy to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, to be the next Secretary of Homeland Security. Nielsen was also deputy to Kelly when he was chief of DHS, leading us to wonder if Nielsen would be a rubber stamp for Trump’s deportation the way Kelly was. But not much is known about Nielsen herself, besides her resume and roles within previous Administrations.
(snip)
As Maddow reminds us, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 flooded New Orleans and killed 1800 Americans, and was made much deadlier due to the “disastrous, tone-deaf, late, inept response by the federal government.” Even though the National Weather Service correctly forecasted the brunt of the storm, the Bush Administration could not figure out its response, did not understand the magnitude of the damage, and consequently failed to get people to safety. While New Orleans drowned, George Bush went on vacation, Dick Cheney went fly-fishing in Wyoming, and former DHS head Michael Chertoff flew to an avian flu conference in Georgia.
Maddow pinpoints a very specific occurrence that led to Katrina becoming a disaster: on Monday, August 29, after Katrina had made landfall in New Orleans, a FEMA official climbed onboard a helicopter and visually confirmed that the city’s levees had been breached and that New Orleans was flooding. The information was relayed up the chain — but then disappeared. DHS was, for some reason, unable to process the critical information, the Administration was not properly notified, and the federal government took no action. A report from the Republican-led House of Representatives later made clear that “any delay in the confirmation of levee breaches would delay evacuation” — yet DHS failed to handle this confirmation. Thousands of people died as a result.
And again, who was in charge of prevention, preparedness, and response at DHS? Kirstjen Nielsen. A Washington Post story specifically said that “Nielsen’s team was widely criticized for its passive and clumsy response” to Katrina.
(end snip)
Mission accomplished in New Orleans for Bushco (scattering dems to the 4 winds after Katrina). Now mission being accomplished in Puerto Rico for Trumpco. They tried to make them both unlivable.
