Federal and state initiatives targeting undocumented immigrants have spread alarm through Latino communities as people face ethnic profiling, and some in Houston even feared seeking refuge from Hurricane Harvey because of the possibility they would run afoul of law enforcement.
In human society, there is no such thing as a purely “natural” disaster. While storms, flooding, landslides and other emergencies are in some sense “acts of nature,” we cannot fully separate the natural event itself from the social context in which it occurs. In the United States, the capitalist system worsens and profits off of disasters, whereas in socialist China, a robust response system based on human need lessens the impact of disasters. This can be seen clearly by comparing relief efforts in the U.S. and China, as well as other socialist countries.
Ryan's a jellyfish and maybe he never had a pecker anyway, but if he did, Trump put it in a pecker guillotine earlier today-- while Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Kevin McCarthy and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin looked on in stunned silence and Miss McConnell excused himself and went to the little boys' room for a few moments and some smelling salts.
Amid more federal and state crackdowns on illegal immigrants, some Latinos feared that Hurricane Harvey relief efforts could serve as another excuse to round up people without documents, as Dennis J Bernstein learned. By Dennis J Bernstein Federal and state…Read more →
In J.G. Ballard’s classic novel, The Drowned World, people are struggling for survival on a post-apocalyptic, overheating planet. A ‘sudden instability in the Sun’ has unleashed increased solar radiation, melting the polar ice caps and causing global temperatures to rise by a few degrees each year. Once-temperate areas, such as Europe and North America, have become flooded tropical lands, ‘sweltering under continuous heat waves’.
Days after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in August 2005, the national news media expressed collective alarm at the discovery that in modern America, many people shelter in place during storms for the simple reason that they can’t afford to get out (Extra!, 7–8/06).
Of the many stories written about Hurricane Katrina in autumn 2005 and its devastating consequences, one crucial element is virtually overlooked. During the all-important hours after the tropical cyclone laid waste to sections of south-eastern United States, the Bush administration ignored the aid of its Cuban neighbor.
Of the many stories written about Hurricane Katrina in autumn 2005, and its devastating consequences, one crucial element is virtually overlooked. During the all-important hours after the tropical cyclone laid waste to sections of south-eastern United States, the Bush administration ignored the aid of its Cuban neighbour.
The Flood Insurance Program is taxpayer funded insurance for properties that cannot obtain private insurance, overruling the market’s verdict that these properties should not be insured. [...]
