
TRUMP’S WEATHERED MAN
Trumpās top hurricane response guy said he was unaware of hurricane seasonĀ ā in what the White House now claims was a joke. Ha ha! Very funny! But thatās hardly the only sign that he’s got a lot of catching up to do.
- Imagine youāve just been named the countryās top disaster relief official. Sweet job, right? Except then you find out: This country has anĀ entire season of hurricanes, six whole months when storms lash the Southeast! Youāre on duty, like, that whole time, from like June 1 to November 30. And hereās the kicker:Ā It just started!Ā
- Big shock, right? Well, apparently, that jarring surprise just hit President Donald Trumpās new acting FEMA administrator, David Richardson.Ā He told his staff yesterday: āI didnāt realize it was a season,ā according to theĀ Wall Street Journal.
- In fairness, the guy has no experience in emergency response, so itās understandable heās learning on the job (even if thatās a scary prospect for the emergency chief, and he shouldnāt have been hired in the first place). He served in the Marines and later in a government post countering weapons of mass destruction. So, if one of those hurricanesĀ tries to nuke us, I guess heāll know what to do?
- A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security slammed āmeanspirited attempts to falsely frame a joke as policy,ā and insisted FEMA is ready for whatever storms may come. And, sure, it might have been a joke. Then again, Trump has a long track record of dismissing his own most hair-brained statements as jokes, too.
But this is hardly the only area where Richardson has seemed unawareĀ of his new portfolio, according to a former FEMA official who briefly crossed paths with him at the agency.
- āHe also didnāt know about the full range of potential hazards that exist,ā the official toldĀ What A Day. In a meeting once, āhe made a comment about the fact that he wasn’t aware that volcanoes were a thing we were concerned about. Again, it was kind of offhand.ā
- Itās the kind of thing that a FEMA director might want to know, even if volcanos arenāt on the forefront of most Americansā concerns. The U.S. has about 169 active volcanoes, located in places like Hawaii, the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. True, the U.S. has had fewer than 1,000 volcano-related deaths in its entire history. Then again,Ā if Mount St. Helens ever went up again ā after killing 57 people in 1980 ā it would be cool if the FEMA guy had given this issue at least a momentās thought. āHe was seeing thereās a lot more there than just floods and tornadoes,ā the official told me.
- Even if Richardson was joking about hurricanes, the joke seems⦠in poor taste. āWhatās the joke? Is it self-deprecating, like, āIām so incompetent that I don’t know what hurricane season is?ā Heās aware of himself, that he has no experience?ā Jeremy Edwards, former FEMA press secretary under the Biden administration, told What A Day. āYou’re pointing out the fact that you donāt know what the fuck youāre doing.ā
- Forecasters expectĀ more storms than averageĀ this year, including three to five major hurricanes. FEMA struggled to respond to deadly hurricanes last year, and the agency is even more unprepared now: The Trump administrationĀ cut 2,000 workersĀ ā about one-third of FEMAās full-time workforce ā andĀ slashed its funds. āEvery day, FEMA is getting less ready, not more ready,ā the former official added.
āItās like a mix between comedy and tragedy,ā Edwards said,Ā explaining that his friends who work in FEMA share memes about Richardson. āTheyāre like, āThis guyās a fucking clown,ā they’re making jokes about him ⦠But on the other hand, itās really scary.ā
D-BAG DUO
Donald Trumpās latest obsession is trying to force American companies to bring their business back to the United States. His own family hasnāt gotten the memo.
The Trump Organization, the family real estate firm led by douchebag duo Don. Jr. and Eric Trump, has publiclyĀ announced 12 international projectsĀ since their daddy took office. That includes residential high-rises, hotels and golf courses.
That number dwarfs the two ā TWO!!! ā deals the Trump Organization announced during the presidentās first term. Adding insult to injury, the business empire unveiled an ethics agreement in January promising to avoid doing deals directly with foreign governments. Surprise, surprise: Many of the deals involved foreign governments, mostly in the Middle East.
āThe Trumps say there is a crucial distinction. The company isnāt transacting directly with foreign governments. Rather, some of the Trump deals are joint ventures with companies that are doing business with foreign governments,ā theĀ Wall Street JournalĀ writes. The dozen deals were finalized before Trump won election, a company representative told the outlet.
Aha! That makes it okay! Nothing to see here folks.
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NEWS NEWS NEWS
Israeli troops opened fire on PalestiniansĀ who were walking toward a new food distribution site in the Gaza Strip today, killing at least 27 people, according to local health officials. Itās the second major shooting by Israeli forces in three days near that aid site, as famished Palestinians try to secure enough food to survive.
Donald Trump has privately complainedĀ for at least a year about the Supreme Court justices he nominated, particularly Justice Amy Coney Barrett, for not supporting his agenda enough. Trumpās ire has been fueled by his allies, who have accused Barrett of being āweakā and not aligned with how she interviewed for the job. I bet Donaldās moping around, angry that this isnāt one big episode of āThe Apprentice.ā You canāt just fireĀ THESEĀ people, loser!
Trump has posted on Truth Social,Ā his companyās social media platform, more than 2,200 times since taking office. Heās being helped out by a team of aides, allowing him to directly communicate with millions of people without the media calling out his bullshit (like his claim that former President Joe Biden was executed and replaced by a āsoulless mindlessā robotic clone). Takes one to know one!
Scientists are warning that Trumpās cutsĀ to their budgets will cause the most talented researchers to leave the country. One stunning example: Scientist Ardem Patapoutian, who won a Nobel Prize after discovering how humans sense touch, was studying new ways to treat pain when his federal grant was frozen. He posted online about the situation ā and within hours, he received an email from China, offering to move his lab to āany city, any university I wantā with 20 years of guaranteed funding, he told theĀ New York Times. Patapoutian decided to stay⦠but other less-experienced researchers may not have much of a choice, he said.
Sales of subscriptions for the Kennedy CenterĀ in Washington, D.C. fell 36 percent this year, causing staffers to raise the alarm about the Trump administrationās botched takeover of the arts center. āWe feel that we no longer have a choice but to force complete transparency with the public,ā a current staffer said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the NavyĀ to rename a ship that was named after Harvey Milk, the gay rights leader and Navy veteran who was assassinated. What a twisted way to start Pride Monthā¦
South Korean politician Lee Jae-myung,Ā a left-leaning candidate who has argued his should not beĀ over-dependent on the United States, won the countryās presidential election. Lee onceĀ likened himselfĀ to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)… which sounds like a vast improvement from the previous dude whoĀ tried to declareĀ martial law, then barricaded himself in his residence before being arrested.
Has the warm smell of brownies baking at grandma’s house been getting… skunkier lately? It could be because older folks are smoking (and eating) weed way more than they used to. Marijuana use among people 65 and older rose from 4.8 percent to 7 percent from 2021 to 2023, according to new research. No word yet on whether theyāre listening to more Pink Floyd, though.
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