5 chapters across the catalog
President Trump confronted a CNN reporter during a briefing, accusing the network of "fake news" for taking his comments about governors out of context. Trump explained that his demand for "appreciation" was directed toward the work of FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers, not himself personally. The hosts analyze the exchange, noting that while Trump's explanation was flustered, the reporter appeared blind to the editorial manipulation of the quote.
FEMA has graduated its first class of "FEMA Corps," a group of 231 youth aged 18 to 24 recruited from the AmeriCorps program. This "Civilian Corps" is designed to assist with disaster response and recovery efforts under the Department of Homeland Security. The program has drawn comparisons to historical youth organizations used by centralized governments to foster state loyalty.
National Preparedness Month, Ready.gov PSA Criticism
The federal government has designated September as National Preparedness Month, launching the Ready.gov website with various public service announcements. The hosts critique the "poorly acted" video series featuring a family preparing for disasters like toxic train derailments. They express skepticism toward the Citizen Corps and Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT), labeling them as government-run "grassroots" initiatives.
A reported recommendation in New Orleans suggests the media should avoid the term "Katrina disaster," as the flooding was caused by levee failures rather than the hurricane itself. George W. Bush's comments on the speed of disaster relief are also critiqued.
FEMA distributed food kits in Kentucky and Arkansas that contained peanut butter linked to a nationwide salmonella outbreak. The hosts name Stuart Parnell, president of Peanut Corp of America, as the individual responsible for knowingly shipping tainted products. They express outrage that Parnell has not faced criminal charges despite the deaths associated with the contamination.
