The Federal Emergency Management Agency is under fire after a supervisor directed staff to avoid helping Florida residents with signs supporting Donald Trump, but that incident illustrates a larger culture of woke priorities undermining FEMA’s central mission, according to one current employee and one former employee who spoke with The Daily Signal on condition of anonymity. The FEMA veterans said that, under the Biden-Harris administration, the agency prioritizes racial minorities, LGBTQ individuals, and climate initiatives, undermining its mission of helping Americans face disasters and leading Americans to distrust the federal government. FEMA pushes diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, at the risk of saving fewer lives, they said. “FEMA’s rotten to a core,” said an employee who worked there for about five years and left earlier this year. “It’s overstaffed, it’s bureaucratic, [and] they don’t really help anybody.” “FEMA needs to help people. It doesn’t help people right now,” he said. “It’s so biased and racist [against those perceived as white].” (Note: This article refers to both the former staffer and the current staffer using male pronouns, but this editorial decision should not be taken as revealing the sex of either person.) The current FEMA employee, who has over a decade of service in federal agencies, said the woke bias undermines FEMA’s disaster response goals. “I think such an approach more broadly undermines trust in government,” the employee told The Daily Signal. “While FEMA aims to help people through noble missions, such emphasis on DEI compartmentalizes people, further dividing the country and sowing distrust.” “The current FEMA administrator made a conscious decision to sacrifice a ready and prepared nation for a divisive DEI agenda and unserious climate goals,” the staffer added, referring to Deanne Criswell, who was appointed by President Joe Biden. FEMA did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment by publication time. The Trump Signs Scandal A FEMA supervisor, Marn’i Washington, told workers in a message to “avoid homes advertising Trump” as they canvassed Lake Placid, Florida, to identify residents who could qualify for federal aid after Hurricane Milton, The Daily Wire’s Leif Le Mahieu reported last week. Employees of FEMA told The Daily Wire that Washington relayed this message both verbally and via a group chat. Her directive reportedly prevented FEMA from offering post-hurricane aid to at least 20 homes displaying Trump signs or flags between late October and November. Criswell confirmed the story and announced on X that Washington had been fired. “More than 22,000 FEMA employees every day adhere to FEMA’s core values and are dedicated to helping people before, during and after disasters, often sacrificing time with their own families to help disaster survivors,” Criswell wrote. “Recently, a FEMA employee departed from these values to advise her survivor assistance team to not go to homes with yard signs supporting President-elect Trump. This is a clear violation of FEMA’s core values & principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation.” The FEMA administrator called the actions “reprehensible” and pledged to “continue to do everything I can to make sure this never happens again.” This was reprehensible. I want to be clear to all of my employees and the American people, this type of behavior and action will not be tolerated at FEMA and we will hold people accountable if they violate these standards of conduct.— Deanne Criswell (@FEMA_Deanne) November 9, 2024 Yet after her firing, Washington told journalist Roland Martin that FEMA’s avoidance of Trump supporters is a “colossal event” that also occurred in North Carolina and South Carolina after both Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton. “They all alleged that these actions were made on my own recognizance, and from my own political advances,” Washington said. “However, if you look at the record, there is what we call a community trend and unfortunately, it just so happened that the political hostility that was encountered by my team—and I was on two different teams during my own deployment—they just so happened to have the Trump campaign signage. FEMA always preaches avoidance first and then de-escalation, this is not isolated. This is a colossal event of avoidance, not just in the state of Florida, but you will find avoidance in the Carolinas.” Washington also claimed that her FEMA team witnessed hostility and “verbal abuse” from residents who had Trump signs on their property, leading to the instruction to avoid Trump supporters. She said her staff did not canvass at homes with Trump signs to avoid facing the alleged “verbal abuse” and “hostile encounters” at the behest of Chad Hershey, a FEMA supervisor above Washington who allegedly instructed them to avoid homes they felt were unsafe. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, a Republican, filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging that FEMA engaged in discrimination against Floridians. Gov. Ron DeSantis, also a Republican, supported the lawsuit. “It’s unacceptable for the federal government to discriminate against Floridians who voted for Trump, and especially egregious in the aftermath of a hurricane,” DeSantis said Thursday. “I’m supportive of this legal action by the Attorney General’s Office, and I have instructed state agencies to likewise take any action necessary to investigate and ensure those who engaged in this behavior are held accountable.” ‘I’ve Seen That’ The former FEMA employee told The Daily Signal that he also witnessed FEMA leaders encouraging staff to avoid whites and conservatives on the supposition that they would be hostile. “They were told to avoid Trump, avoid any house that has a Trump sign, in a verbal meeting,” he said. “I’ve seen that happen.” “We were told, ‘Don’t go into any house that looks suspicious,'” the former employee recalled. “They would use words like, ‘hick,’ ‘cowboys,’ ‘rednecks.’ You can change that over to ‘Trump supporters,’ ‘MAGA.'” Referring to Washington, the fired supervisor, the former employee said: “She’s saying, ‘I didn’t make this up on my own.’ I believe her because I’ve totally seen it.” “I believe she did exactly what she was told to do,” he said. “I read Deanne’s statement—it’s a lie, it’s a complete lie.” The current employee agreed regarding Criswell, FEMA’s administrator. “The good people at FEMA deserve stronger leadership,” he said. “I believe the FEMA administrator to be premature, shortsighted, and misleading in her assessment of this incident.” “While public responder safety is a paramount objective, responders are given the necessary latitude to determine whether unsafe conditions exist,” the FEMA employee added. “The extreme liberal ideology behind DEI that this Biden-Harris administration has prioritized, with support from the mainstream media and their sympathetic sycophants, convinced humanitarian responders that Trump signs imply a risk to their personal safety.” “I do not believe Ms. Washington is alone and I believe we will hear more instances of how DEI has improperly influenced the delivery of lifesaving aid to Americans in need,” the staffer said. The former FEMA employee said the agency’s leftist bias had been visible since at least Hurricane Harvey in 2017, Trump’s first year as president. He also pointed to a July 21, 2022, email FEMA sent to staff with the subject line, “How LGBTQ+ Survivors get left out of Disaster Planning.” The email invited staff to a meeting of a resource group for LGBTQ employees focused on prioritizing such individuals after disasters. FEMA’s Strategic Plan In 2020, FEMA launched a new DEI plan, the former employee recalled. “That’s when everything went crazy,” he said. “All our goals were basically no longer about helping or anything like that. They were about DEI—it was all about equity and helping the disadvantaged/disenfranchised.” “It had nothing to do with the actual mission of the agency,” he added. The former employee pointed to the 2022-2026 FEMA Strategic Plan, which prioritizes “equity” and “climate resilience.” “We must instill equity as a foundation of emergency management,” Criswell, FEMA’s administrator, wrote in the plan’s opening letter. The plan cites a June 25, 2021, executive order from Biden prioritizing “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the federal workforce.” Biden’s order defines equity as “the consistent and systematic fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals, including individuals who belong to underserved communities that have been denied such treatment, such as Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality.” Critics say this emphasis on “equity” traces back to critical race theory, the idea that American society is inherently racist and discriminatory against racial minorities, LGBTQ individuals, women, and others, and needs to be fundamentally restructured to achieve justice. The FEMA document states that “intentionally directing resources to communities most in need” in order to “counteract systemic disaster inequities” will not entail “that resources will be directed away from others in need of assistance.” Critics, however, say that DEI and climate priorities undermine the agency’s ability to provide disaster relief. The current employee explained how the emphasis on diversity affects FEMA’s operations. “FEMA has prioritized DEI initiatives that play on three distinct levels: workforce management; disaster program and policy design; and disaster response,” the agency employee told The Daily Signal. “The latter two are largely guided using an ‘equity lens’ purpose-built for FEMA using the Racial Equity Tool developed by Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE). FEMA employees consider this purpose-built ‘equity lens’ when starting or developing new policy or reviewing existing policy. These policies span grant programs, disaster aid programs, technical assistance, grant funding, training, and community outreach.” “FEMA implements these designs during disasters using Equity Advisors and task forces, which are carved out from the already limited disaster workforce,” he added. “These advisors and [task forces] use FEMA’s equity guidance to direct aid to specific groups matching categories of demographics.” The Government Alliance on Race and Equity, a project of the left-leaning nonprofit Race Forward, advises local, regional, and state governments on implementing “racial equity.” Race Forward has received over $1 million in grants from the George Soros-founded Foundation to Promote Open Society since 2021. GARE did not respond to a request for comment about the Racial Equity Tool and the “equity lens.” The current FEMA employee said the equity and climate goals undercut the agency’s effectiveness. “It’s the opportunity cost of running government programs,” he said. “Limited staff and resources will inevitably hit diminishing returns if their mission suite is diluted with poorly considered directives.” “We can certainly walk while chewing gum, but having to simultaneously sip the climate Kool-Aid runs the risk of choking,” the employee quipped. “And choking organizationally during a disaster response is simply un-American.” The post NOT JUST TRUMP SIGNS: Employees Reveal FEMA’s Systematic Woke Discrimination appeared first on The Daily Signal.

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NBC's Law & Order took on the Israeli-Gaza conflict last night, showing sympathy for a pro-Hamas protester who is in danger of being deported. The episode, "Truth and Consequences," on Thursday begins on the campus of the fictional "Hudson University." Recreating the violent protests on U.S. campuses last spring, aggressive pro-Gaza protesters start fights with students and professors in the opening scene. Professor: Here we go again. Yesterday, there were 15 tents. Now there are double the amount. Professor Bennett: I'm more worried about the fact that these kids aren't going to class. My journalism seminar this morning was half empty. Professor: That's because they believe that the rules don't apply to them. Professor Bennett: Making poor choices is all part of the college experience. Professor: Sure, but there have to be consequences. President Redd should be calling in the cops. Professor Bennett: Look, I don't agree with these protesters. Far from it. But we can't arrest our own students. Professor: Why not? Our own students are being harassed. Protestors: You're not going this way. Go back the other way! Student: Let me through! Professor: Hey. Hey! Leave him alone. Student: Man, I don't have time. Professor: Hey, hey, Hey. Professor Bennett: Hey. Hey. Come on. Student: I'm cool. I'm cool.  Professor Bennett is later found dead. His wife is a prominent New York judge. The first potential suspect is a neighbor who had broken into the Bennett home, stolen an Israeli flag from their window, and assaulted a police officer during his arrest. Being New York City, he was quickly released after the incident. "I mean, you gotta love bail reform. A guy with a history of violence breaks into a man's home, steals his private property, and what happens? Nothing," Lieutenant Brady sarcastically tells detectives. The neighbor defiantly tells investigators that the Bennetts should have expected a reaction to an Israeli flag in their window. However, he is not the murderer. The murderer turns out to be a law student in the pro-Hamas encampment whose clerkship offer had been rescinded by Judge Bennett. A Venezuelan student from the encampment named Daniela Rojas can place him near the crime scene, but she is at Hudson on a student visa and does not want to testify. Left-wing Assistant District Attorney Samantha Maroun feels sorry for Rojas because her illegal protest activity could get her expelled and deported. She argues with fellow ADA Nolan Price about putting her on the stand. Price: So she needs to testify.  Maroun: No, she's here on a student Visa, Nolan. Look, if she testifies, she's gonna have to admit that she was part of the encampment. And she-- she could get expelled, and that means she could get deported. Price: I know you have sympathy for the protesters. Maroun: Yeah, I do. But this has nothing to do with that. I'm just trying to be reasonable. Look, why ruin a kid's life if we don't have to?  Price: I will do my best to protect her on cross. But she is the one who chose to protest and to camp out after her school prohibited it. Maroun: Are you serious? Price: She chose to violate her school's code of conduct. That's on her, not us. Price places Rojas on the stand in spite of Maroun's objections. The young woman cries as she is interrogated about her legal status in the United States.  Defense Attorney: Are you or are you not hoping that these prosecutors will help you stay in school and remain in this country? Rojas: I mean, that would be great if they could help. Defense Attorney: That's all I have. Thank you. Price: Brief redirect. Miss Rojas, has any member of the prosecution team offered you any promises, inducements, or rewards in exchange for your testimony here today? Rojas: No. In fact, I'm pretty sure you just screwed me.  Judge: Miss Rojas. Rojas: I'm just telling the truth. Price: Nothing further. Most normal people recognize that a foreign student in a country must respect the host country's laws. Participating in illegal encampments that block students from freely moving around the campus is insane. All the melodramatic music and furtive courtroom looks cannot change the fact that such actions are reckless. Nonetheless, "Truth and Consequences" does its best to try to generate pity for this particular activist. "She has been thrown out of school, and she may very well be kicked out of the damn country," Price laments about Rojas' fate. Her fate is contrasted with the powerful Judge Bennett who refuses to testify about the case because of personal struggles with addiction, leading to a plea deal for the killer.  "Truth and Consequences" never once asks why the U.S. should continue to host a foreign student who breaks the law and participates in anarchy.  This fall, Law & Order has portrayed a "right-wing news" journalist and pro-life activists as villains. But a participant in Hamas-supporting campus chaos is sympathetic because she is an immigrant on a student visa!

Nearly a week after he published the bombshell piece about significant layoffs coming next year to CNN that will impact those behind and in front of the camera, Puck’s Dylan Byers reported Wednesday night that CNN host and former Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace wasn’t simply departing the network because he wanted to explore podcast, but rather due to the fact his shows were being axed (and thus he wanted to get out ahead of any announcement). Byers explained that Wallace made the decision “on Monday evening” in a call to CNN’s “talent chief Amy Entelis...that he intended to leave at the end of his contract,” which was followed shortly thereafter in a nauseatingly coordinated move, a Daily Beast article heralding his departure to look at “streaming or podcast” since that’s “where the action seems to be.” Byers made clear he didn’t buy that someone with a $7 million salary was just leaving willy nilly, placing him alongside other recent announcements of future departures in Hoda Kotb from NBC’s Today and Norah O’Donnell from the CBS Evening News. Simply put, what all three have in common can be summed up in one word: money. In other words, none of them wanted to take a paycut for the millions or tens of millions they had been making for decades as corporate journalists. Byers spilled the beans that Wallace’s two shows — an interview show called Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace? and a Saturday morning panel chatfest The Chris Wallace Show — were being canned by CNN boss Mark Thompson. “Instead, Thompson and Entelis intended to offer Wallace a new role as an analyst, which would have resulted in a significantly diminished compensation package and, presumably, far less air time,” Byers explained. Wallace insisted to Byers in a text message he “had already decided...six months ago to leave CNN” when his contract was up and thus these cancellations and pay cuts are “irrelevant.” Seemingly unswayed by this, Byers pointed out the hard facts about Wallace’s show: “The most recent broadcast of The Chris Wallace Show drew 450,000 viewers and just 85,000 in the advertiser-coveted 25-to-54-year-old demo—an audience size at which it’s increasingly hard to justify most of the talent salaries at CNN.” Byers doubled down on his reporting about layoffs next year by Thompson, including the fact that they “will include some high-priced TV talent,” so Wallace was merely “one of its first and most obvious casualties.”

In what could best be described as a naked piece of Regime propaganda, NBC News promoted the left’s latest temper tantrum-induced exodus from X (formerly Twitter). And in so doing, they left out the part about the left’s temper tantrum.  It took NBC about a minute before sort of scraping the surface as to what really underlies celebrities and Regime propagandists’ decision to leave the platform:     SAVANNAH SELLERS: Even prior to these new terms, the day after the election, X lost more users than any day since Elon Musk bought it in 2022. JOANNA STERN: There are a few things fueling this exodus. The first is the change of terms of service. The other is just the presence of Elon Musk and what has happened to the platform and the overwhelming amount of content there that is really focused on the new president, Donald Trump, and also just full right-wing information, conspiracy theories, and posts. The report spends its first minute trying to pin departures on X on an AI-related change in its terms of service. It bears noting that most of these announcements were aired on TikTok, and should perhaps therefore be taken with a brick of salt.  After laying that predicate, and as a “by the way”, the report gets to its point, which is to cast X (and, by extension, Elon Musk) as a right-wing depository of disinformation. No mention was made of the leftist celebrities, propagandists such as Joy Reid, and media outlets such as The Guardian that departed the global town square once it became clear that they lost ideological supremacy., aided and abetted by weaponized government and the censorship industrial complex.  THIS is the real factual basis that undergirds NBC’s propagandistic report, intended to encourage further departures away from X. The loss of political influence, framed within an AI panic. Further proof evident that the media landscape has shifted, and will never again be the same. Perhaps Elon’s right: X is the media. Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on NBC Nightly News on Thursday, November 14th, 2024: LESTER HOLT: A major change is coming to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter owned by Elon Musk. I has to do with AI and it has users threatening to leave the platform for newer, alternative applications. Here’s Savannah Sellers. ITSNIANICHOLE: So, announcement: I am about to delete my Twitter. ANGELITAMARIA: So I don’t know about y’all but I am closing my Twitter account. SAVANNAH SELLERS: Users of X, formerly Twitter, say they are done with the platform on the eve of a big change. Tomorrow, the company will adopt new terms of service that explicitly state by using X, you are agreeing to let your posts be used to train AI, with seemingly no way to opt out. JOANNA STERN: That means that if you posted some text, a photo, a video, that X can suck that up and put it into its large language model training database. SELLERS: So X could then know personal information about you, and even create content using your image. Even prior to these new terms, the day after the election, X lost more users than any day since Elon Musk bought it in 2022. JOANNA STERN: There are a few things fueling this exodus. The first is the change of terms of service. The other is just the presence of Elon Musk and what has happened to the platform and the overwhelming amount of content there that is really focused on the new president, Donald Trump, and also just full right-wing information, conspiracy theories, and posts. SELLERS: Other social media sites reaping the benefits. Bluesky welcoming 2.5 million new users in the last week. And Mets’s Threads up 15 million in November alone. Now, when NBC News asked X about, they didn’t respond directly, but instead pointed to previously published Election Day numbers, which they say were an all-time high for the platform. Lester. HOLT: All right, Savannah. Thanks much.