The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

World Central Kitchen’s Relief Team is on our way to central Texas to support communities impacted by catastrophic flooding in Hill Country on Friday, July 4. Heavy rains in the region overnight peaked at 15 inches in some places and led to the flooding of the Guadalupe River. The National Weather Service reported that the river has reached the second-highest height on record—waters rose more than 26 feet in just 45 minutes. At least 13 people have lost their lives, and search and rescue efforts are underway to locate missing residents. The flooding is also impacting a number of children and staff stranded at local summer camps.

WCK Relief Team members are en route to assess the communities’ needs for food and water, and will determine if more support is needed...

You can donate to World Central Kitchen's relief efforts at the link above.  As we've said many times before, if anyone deserves a Nobel Peace Prize, it's World Central Kitchen and its leader Chef José Andrés.

The bad:

Food banks say they are wholly unprepared to feed millions of Americans when Republicans’ cuts to traditional federal safety net programs take effect.

The GOP’s megabill slashes more than $1 trillion from the nation’s largest food aid program and Medicaid, with some of the cuts taking effect as early as this year. Low-income people grappling with higher costs of living could be forced to turn to emergency food assistance.

In preparation, food bank leaders are trying to convince private foundations and state leaders to give them more money. Some states like Minnesota and Pennsylvania have already been weighing shifting additional resources to emergency food programs or standing up new initiatives to counter the loss of federal dollars.

That still won’t be enough.

According to Feeding America, the cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program alone would eliminate 6 billion to 9 billion meals annually — roughly the same number of meals the food bank network provided last year. Those food banks would need to double their operations to close the gap SNAP leaves behind.

“There is no world in which I can imagine we double ourselves, into perpetuity,” Joree Novotny, executive director of the Ohio Association of Food Banks wrote in a text message.

Food bank leaders like Novotny said cuts to SNAP, which provides food aid to over 40 million low-income Americans, will exacerbate their already strained operations. They’ve been piecing together state and federal money to meet increased hunger needs post-Covid, when food prices soared by over 30 percent. Now, much of that money has dried up, and the Trump administration earlier this year canceled more than $1 billion in federal funds for food banks, including money to buy from local farms...

At the other end of the food assistance spectrum from the World Central Kitchen is the fascistic Republican Party/ MAGA cult.  The fact that heavily Republican states are likely to face significant hardship doesn't seem to matter to the MAGAt cultists who passed the Big Ugly Bill.  ICYMI, Paul Waldman explained why they don't care.  Sociopaths rarely do.

The ugly: 

Florida’s first migrant detention and deportation facility — dubbed Alligator Alcatraz — has officially opened deep in the Everglades, drawing applause from Republicans and sharp condemnation from Democrats and environmental advocates.

The facility opened last Tuesday with a presidential visit and shortly after began receiving detainees.

The temporary facility, with a capacity of up to 3,000 detainees, was fast-tracked into existence just weeks after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier pitched the idea. He insisted that detainees will be treated fairly and processed swiftly. [Ed.: if you believe that, we've got some swampland in Florida to sell you]  [snip]

Meanwhile, roughly 400 miles north, Florida is preparing to break ground on a second facility at Camp Blanding, a Florida National Guard base. State Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said construction could begin as soon as the week following the holiday weekend.

“I would say, right after our wonderful Independence Day, we will be starting construction near that facility,” Guthrie said.

“You have another big runway there too,” added Uthmeier.

Once complete, Camp Blanding could house an additional 2,000 detainees, bringing the state’s total detention capacity to 5,000.

Despite protests and petitions circulating statewide, Governor DeSantis and the Trump administration have remained firm in their support.

The state is reportedly covering over $450 million to build the facilities, but DeSantis has stated that the federal government may ultimately reimburse those costs.

Well, a second "Alligator Alcatraz" (a.k.a, "Alligator Auschwitz").  Prepare for more of these concentration camps, for which the Republicans' Big Ugly Bill provides $45 billion for construction costs.  As is becoming increasingly popular to point out, if you ever wondered what you would have done in 1930s Germany, you're doing it now.