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Events of note Government Media Savannah

Savannah fiddles while the US burns

Next Monday the annual Savannah St. Patrick’s Day parade makes its way down our historic streets. The parade is now celebrating its 201st anniversary, an extraordinary achievement. And though it has had a reputation for being one of the biggest “kiss me I’m Irish” bashes in the country, the wild parties and uncontrolled drinking in the squares is now a thing of the past. Not to say there won’t be parties, and it is St. Patrick’s day, so yes, there will be drinking…but families need not fear bringing down the kiddies to celebrate.

Among the parade participants will be marchers from the armed services, including 200 soldiers from nearby Fort Stewart. Unlike past year’s, the military and the city are working hard to prevent the ambush of red-lipsticked attacks by women—a ‘tradition’ that really is dated and frankly, not fun, cute, or acceptable. My personal preference would be to create a law that any attempted smoocher breaking parade boundaries has to stay behind after the parade and help with clean up.

I won’t be attending the parade. I’m still recovering from a serious case of the flu, and I’m no longer that comfortable in large crowds. I may be half Irish, but I’d rather have a cup o tea and a shamrock cookie at home.

And frankly, even without the flu, I am in no mood to celebrate.  Not after watching what’s happening at the federal level the last few months. I’m also not sure I could look into the faces of the soldiers as they march past and not feel shame at what this country is doing to them.

Women and soldiers of color have had their service degenerated by their new Secretary of Defence boss. They’ve had healthcare removed because of political ideology. They’ve watched excellent commanders stripped of their commands solely because of their sex or the color of their skin.

Comrades-in-arms who have served with distinction beside them are being summarily dismissed from their careers because of anti-trans bigotry—a bigotry that is expanding to all members of the LGBTQ+ community.

And what can they look forward to, once they leave the military? If they need therapy, they’ll have to crowd into a cubicle with their therapist and hope a white noise machine keeps their discussion private. If our soldiers need other veteran care, including health, they’ll be waiting months because of a planned decimation of the Veterans Administration. In addition, veterans have long enjoyed greater access to good jobs in our federal government. Now these same veterans are losing their jobs by the tens of thousands.

And those still serving? They don’t know if they’ll be doing publicity work at the border, or instructed to give some of our nation’s most important secrets to frat boys and foreign operatives. They’re being told our closest allies are really our enemies and that ‘woke’ is a greater risk than Russian cyber hackers.

How can we face the soldiers on St. Patrick’s day, and pretend all of this is not happening? To ignore that these soldiers lives are being brutally unraveled but have no fear, the city will keep them safe from lipstick?

I understand the need for balance. One can’t live in a state of anger all the time, and that the St. Patrick’s parade is an important economic event for our area. But living in Savannah the last two months is like living in the fabled village of Brigadoon—cut off from the rest of the country by a determination not to acknowledge what’s happening to the country and its impact here.

People are being laid off here. Funds are being frozen here. Federal offices are being shut down here. Because of NOAA closures, we’re at greater risk from hurricanes. Our fishing industries will be impacted. Are Fort Stewart support personnel among those being fired? Can we even depend on FEMA the next Debby or Helene?

What impact will the obsessive focus on deporting longtime and law-abiding migrants have on our local economies?

How about our healthcare? Drastic cuts are threatened for Medicaid, we already know the Veterans Administrations health services are being cut, but we’re in the middle of a measles epidemic and told to slug down some carrots and all will be well. I paid the price this last week for forgetting my flu shot this last fall, but will I even have an option for a flu shot next fall?

Can we have clubs for women or Black people in our schools? Can we even mention the word ‘Black’? We can’t mention the word ‘inclusive’.

And don’t even get me started on the bird flu and the latest brainstorm from RFK Jr. I now predict the next time the bird flu hits one of our major egg producers in Georgia, instead of culling the herd to stop the threat, we’ll be spraying the birds with cod liver oil. Perhaps we’ll start a birdy meditation circle.

Feed them carrots.

The latest hit to our sanity is tariffs. Or I should say, will we won’t we tariff yes tariff no that has tanked the stock market.

Our media is filled with local news, and appropriately so. But what’s happening nationally is a local story. Aside from a too-rare piece that squeaks past the news desk now and again, no attempts seem to be made to connect what’s happening in the halls in DC to what we need to know, in the Savannah/Chatham county region or the greater coastal area.

Our leaders are focused on green fountains, too much traffic, and new ship-clearing bridges, which is understandable, and these are important…but communicating with the people about federal actions and their impacts on us here, locally, is also part of their job. Pretending nothing is happening amounts to a dereliction of duty.

(The only person speaking out seems to be Buddy Carter, and he’s reduced to absurdities in his desperate attempts to appeal to Trump’s ego.)

Worse, the silence from our local leaders signals there is no interest in challenging what’s happening at the federal level; that we will be the good little boys and girls and not rock the boat and hope that some crumbs of federal funds make their ways past the DOGE cuts.

Please, sirs, may we have some more?

While a part of me understands about not provoking either Trump or Musk—both known for their egos and their capacity for petty revenge—please, sirs, may we have some more sticks in my throat and leaves a bitter taste.

But … this didn’t start out to be a story about Trump and Musk and the destruction of our government. This is about St. Patrick’s Day and the famous Savannah St. Patrick’s Day parade. It’s about green beer (we can still say ‘green’) and the running of the squares and kissing the Irish and wonderful food and music.

And this is about watching the soldiers marching past, and keeping them lipstick free. Yes, that’s what this is about.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

 

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Events of note Government Places

What’s worse than Trump/Vance on Ukraine? Congressional Republicans

I watched a partial video of a town hall by Roger Marshall, junior senator from Kansas. The topic was the Russian/Ukrainian war, and the Trump/Vance/Zelenskyy debacle on Friday.

Here’s how Republicans are spinning what happened with Trump and Vance when they ambushed Zelenskyy.

  1. The war did not have a beginning, it just magically happened.
  2. If it continues, it will be World War III, and let’s throw in nuclear to scare people.
  3. Europe should have stepped up. This is Europe’s fight, not ours.
  4. A million people have died.
  5. This is all Biden’s fault
  6. Trump just wants to have peace

This is the stuff you scrape off your boot after walking through a barnyard.

  1. The war did have a beginning. Putin was the aggressor. And when he promised not to be aggressive, he lied and became even more aggressive. What Putin wants is a Ukraine loyal to him, and he will accept nothing else.
  2. Putin is the one tossing out the threat of nuclear weapons, which to me, makes Russia a threat regardless of what’s happening in Ukraine.
  3. In close to three years, Europe has spent $138.7 billion on Ukraine, while the US has spent $119.7 billion. Europe stepped up.
  4. It’s difficult to count the numbers of dead and wounded. Russia isn’t honest with its counts, and Ukraine doesn’t have counts from occupied territories. But the likely number, though tragic and high, is not a million.
  5. This is Putin’s fault. According to Marshall, Republicans wanted funds for Ukraine but Biden said no. In actuality, it is primarily Congressional Democrats who fought for funds for Ukraine, while the GOP bickered among themselves. The only time the GOP pushed Biden to support Ukraine is shortly after he took office when they were the minority party. Once they took over the House, their interest in helping Ukraine drastically declined. It was up to the Democrats to put real money on the table.
  6. Trump wants tax cuts for the rich. Anything that takes money away from this one single goal is trash to him. Our government, our allies, our healthcare, people’s lives…if it takes money away from tax cuts for the rich, it’s trash to Trump. And Trump likes Putin, because Putin makes him feel special.

We supported Ukraine because it was a country with a true democracy invaded by a totalitarian aggressor intent on domination. And we have long known that Putin is a danger to more than Ukraine. I just never thought I would live to see a US President openly embrace Putin.

Sources

Marshall Town Hall video

Putin uses NATO as an excuse for his war against Ukrainian statehood

Bluff and bluster: Why Putin revised Russia’s nuclear doctrine

How much has the US given to Ukraine?

Fact check: Trump makes numerous false claims at Cabinet meeting

Republicans try to out-hawk Biden on Ukraine aid

Can Biden keep U.S. aid flowing to Ukraine amid GOP chaos in House?

Why are some Republicans opposing more aid for Ukraine?

What is the death toll of Russia’s war in Ukraine?

 

Categories
Climate Change Diversity Government Savannah

Savannah’s Springfield Canal stormwater project likely casualty of Trump cuts

Trump’s first action on becoming President was a wholesale revocation of several Biden Executive Office actions, leading to closure of many vital programs. One of these programs is called the Justice40 initiative.

For the first time in our nation’s history, the Federal government has made it a goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.

By killing the Executive Order that created this initiative, Trump has likely also killed all FEMA funding for a Savannah project to manage stormwater flooding in the Springfield Canal area.

The Justice40 Initiative was a way of allocating resources to historically underserved communities, such as the Carver Village and Cloverdale neighborhoods near the Canal. It wasn’t race-based and in fact made a point of excluding race in its criteria. However, it is a fact that many of the underserved communities in this country are made up of people of color. And because the majority of communities of people of color will benefit, the funding is targeted. The existence of “DEI” is the excuse, but really it is withholding funds that don’t benefit majority white people.

Currently, freezing of these funds is being held up by a court order, though the enforcement of the order is hit and miss. However, because of the association of the funds with environmental justice (“DEI”), and climate change, there’s a strong likelihood the funding will be lost.

It’s difficult to discern from the state of chaos currently in effect in the government, but the funding for the Basin flood control may already have been rescinded.

The state of Georgia, being Republican-led, didn’t join with the other states who have sued the Trump administration to ensure that funding that is promised is delivered. And the states lawsuit court order only extends to the Democrat-led states who filed the complaint However, thankfully,  nonprofits also sued to stop the funding freeze, and this may protect the funding for the project. For now.

If the funding is terminated, Savannah will likely have to sue directly to attempt to enforce the previously approved support, or perhaps get funding from the state of Georgia, instead.

Or wait another four years for a different President.

 

 

 

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Photography Places

Silent Sunday Jan 19 2025

Categories
Government Savannah Weather

Project 2025 and Tropical Cyclone Debby

(source links following)

Just when I started going through the Department of Homeland Security section of Project 2025, tropical cyclone Debby hit Georgia. And it hit Georgia hard.

Areas along the coast and even inland that have never flooded before, flooded. Storm water systems failed to handle the amount of rain that fell, storm water lagoons overflowed, and sewer lift stations were overrun resulting in raw sewage spills in several areas. Roadways were flooded, or complete destroyed when earthen dams failed. Entire neighborhoods in Chatham, Bryan, Liberty, Effingham, Bulloch, and other counties watched the water creep up; sometimes it stopped, sometimes it didn’t.

Currently, FEMA is working with GEMA (Georgia Emergency Management Agency), assessing the damage and determining whether a Major Disaster declaration is warranted for the state and impacted counties. Some folk thinks this means calling our Congressional reps or the governor or other persons of power and telling them to declare a disaster so we can get on with our lives.

It doesn’t work that way.