After Ohio train wreck, Biden orders door-to-door checks

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By MATTHEW DALY and FARNOUSH AMIRI today

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday directed federal agencies to go door-to-door in East Palestine, Ohio, to check on families affected by the toxic train derailment that has morphed into a heated political controversy.

Under Biden’s order, teams from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Environmental Protection Agency and Federal Emergency Management Agency will visit homes beginning Saturday. Workers will ask how residents are doing, see what they need and connect them with appropriate resources from government and nonprofit organizations, the White House said.

The “walk teams” are modeled on similar teams following hurricanes and other natural disasters.

Biden directed employees to get to as many homes as possible by Monday. Officials said the immediate goal was to visit at least 400. The president said he currently has no plans to personally visit Ohio.



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-district-of-columbia-united-states-government-us-department-transportation-15205922ea6ba4f30930070388740af8

[underpants]

1. Oh Lord I can just FEEL the conspiracy theories and RW hyperbolic overreach coming

not that they shouldn’t do it but then why hasn’t this already been done? There are about 5,000 residents. Shouldn’t the fire department or DeWine’s National Guard have already done this?

[truthisfreedom]

2. That's fine. They're defining themselves as whiners.

All they do is bitch.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. They'll have just enough time to leave the pods in the basement. NT

[skip fox]

4. Just one step more into darkness . . .

I'm amazed we haven't already (after less than a day) heard Alex Jones-types screaming that this is Biden's sinister plan to get F.B.I undercover agents into the residents' houses to collect information on them or jack-boot thugs to take their guns.

Stay tuned.

[underpants]

9. Give it time

The have lots of time to fill.

[durablend]

23. You seem to be forgetting

These are *really* covert IRS agents looking to steal those homeowner's money if not lock them up

[skip fox]

24. Undercover, their teams integrate mslign actors from a number of government agencies:

I.R.S. agents in heat,
Gun control thugs,
C.D.C. collectors of D.N.A./planters of microchips
Defense Department testing out viruses and agents of biological warfare,
Panty-sniffers from Homeland Security
et al.

[IronLionZion]

11. Yup, they'll say Biden's goons are coming for MAGAts in their homes

This is to supplement the local resources. 5000 is a lot for the fire dept. National Guard would be soldiers. This effort is friendly unarmed civilians helping connect people to resources for health care and other aid. It was a Biden campaign promise after TFG badly failed on the Puerto Rico hurricane and COVID pandemic. Biden and the Dem congress last 2 years allocated lots more resources to strategic preparedness and response to disasters.

[tanyev]

17. Yep. Hope these teams wear bulletproof vests.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

33. That was my thought as well

[Marthe48]

5. r's will make this Pres. Biden's fault

even if the fault lies with aging equipment, negligent railway companies, and other entities. The wreck happened about 1000 ft from the OH/Pa state line. Just think, if the wreck had happened in PA, the r's could crucify a Dem governor along with a Dem president. I posted a link to a USA Today report from 2/17. Has some information I hadn't heard, and some dramatic pictures.


https://www.usatoday.com/story/graphics/2023/02/17/train-derailment-ohio-explained-graphics/11251530002/

[Orrex]

6. What is gained by Biden not visiting Ohio?

The orange balloon full of liquid pig shit visited last week, and Biden visited Ukraine.

Regardless of the underlying realities, how is this anything other than a message that Ohio isn't a priority?

[Alexander Of Assyria]

25. The less fodder for fox, the better...the afterglow of the Ukraine and Africa visits is still around.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jill-biden-first-lady-aftrica-trip_n_63f6403fe4b0a1ee1497570f

[womanofthehills]

26. I'm not seeing much of an after glow on social media

I’m seeing the opposite. This is going to be used against him in the next election. I believe he needs to go.

[Orrex]

27. If he's courting voters in Ukraine and Africa, then that's terrific

Meanwhile the GOP sets that narrative at home, as always, and the dutiful media runs with it without commentary or analysis, as always.

[BeyondGeography]

31. Nothing

That said, among the positives of these visits is they are an answer to the inevitable you care more about Ukraine crap.

[samplegirl]

7. Their Asshole mayor said he

Dodd not like Biden.
Biden was told by Dewine not to come.

I think Biden is smart to stay away from that shitshow!

Let Vance, Dewine, and Trump take care of it.

If all fails they have Rudy!!!

[Orrex]

8. Ok, that's a take I hadn't considered

I can't say that I understand how it will play out, especially for those in the vicinity of the wreck who might perceive Biden's distance as a dismissal of their concerns.

But I can also see that Repugs would turn it into a petty territorial pissing match that the media would invariably spin to Biden's detriment.


Meanwhile Dewine's constituents suffer.

[dlk]

10. Where is Mike DeWine?

What is he doing to help?

[calimary]

13. Not helping people much. That's where he is.

But he’s a Republican. What else would you expect?

[dlk]

15. Republicans are allergic to problem solving

It’s so much easier to blame everyone else.

[calimary]

19. Understanding them is easy. Republicans DON'T want to help you.

They somehow don’t believe that’s what we have government FOR. To handle and wisely manage and administer the public need to promote the greater good.

Reagan admitted as much toward the end of his heyday - that he saw the presidency as a way to make sure somebody could get rich. Had no interest in using government to promote the greater good. It was all about what-can-I-get and how-much-can-I-get. The needs of others beyond that would just have to take care of themselves. Free market! Free market dontchaknow.

I was so glad to see the detestable greed-is-good reagan era come to an end. Unfortunately the spell wasn’t completely broken. There are still WAY too many people who hunger for those rapacious go-for-the-gusto “millionaires-on-parade” times - what they wistfully view as “the good old days”. I couldn’t be happier that those times, and the whole “Reagan ‘Great Communicator’ mystique” are OVER. He could read a piece of copy or read off a TelePrompTer and do it convincingly. After all, he spent a lot of his life as an actor. And that was pretty much all there was to him, and all you’d really need to know about him. It was all sales pitch, and salesmanship.

[dlk]

20. Reagan legitimized narcissism.

No empathy for anyone else, just me, me, me.

[calimary]

29. Yep. I think that's when the shit started.

That damn reagan legitimized greed, wealth worship, and worldly gain by any means. He made it okay. He made it almost sanctified. Money became a kind of god, and a frenzy followed.

Sometimes I think reagan was so deeply loved and revered by so many because he defied and turned on its head ANY concepts or teachings that elevated the greater good over the self. Screw you. What can I get for me? What do I get out of it? What’s in it for me. There was no longer an “us”. It stopped prioritizing “we”. All that mattered was me, me, and me. And if you or anybody else winds up benefiting too, well, that’s nice. That’s just a happy accident. But it’s still an accident and in no way the main point or the #1 goal.

The key was: selfishness is okay! It’s actually desirable! It’s the conjoined twin, along with greed - which we were famously told in the movie “Wall Street” was GOOD. And for every little kid whose parents and teachers tried to teach and reinforce selflessness, charity, helping those less fortunate and focusing NOT on me-myself-and-I, but rather in you, us, we, gaining and prospering together, collaborating to benefit the greater good - when that kid didn’t want to share his/her toys and was told he/she still had to - THAT must have been a REVELATION! reagan says I don’t have to! Cuz what I want for ME is more important. Indeed, MOST important -even ALL important.

I think that was, and still nostalgically is, the key to reagan’s appeal. He said it was okay to be greedy, to want and get by any means necessary. And to aim to have the most and best and certainly better and splashier and more expensive and highly-coveted than anything your friend/neighbor/coworker got. That collaborative, congenial, how can WE benefit together stuff was for suckers. So yesterday.

The more I think about him, the more convinced I become that he succeeded as wildly as he did because he tapped into the inner demons of our nature, the instinct to defy any teachings or moralities that prioritize humility, collegiality, service to others, and the greater good.

The bastard! And we’re still not completely over the grip of his spell. He made it okay. Everything anyone tried to teach you or role model for you about benefiting the greater good (because that way, EVERYBODY wins, not just exclusively you), reagan came along like the serpent in the Garden of Eden, and slick-talked you into the what my dad used to call “IGMFU”: “I Got Mine, F-U!” reagan elevated that into a sacrament.

Fucking bastard.

[calimary]

30. Sorry about the length...

Just don’t get me started about ronald reagan. The Fucking Bastard.

[dlk]

32. I'm right there with you

He ushered in an ugly shift in America and we’re still living through the terrible consequences to this day.

[MichMan]

34. And somehow managed it with a Democratic House for his entire term in office

Still don't understand why they went along with it....

[dlk]

35. It doesn't make any sense to me, either

I think they may have been naive and not complete cognizant of Republican scorched earth tactics.

[Evolve Dammit]

22. He drank some water in a photo op. Mount Vesuvius at both ends??

[PatrickforB]

12. Biden's got the moves, doesn't he?

Hey, I'll bet Fox News is running this as a banner story after their criticism of Biden for the Ukraine trip that took him away from East Palestine.

Whoops! Old Rupert sure wouldn't want that! He don't like no balance. Nope.

Nope. Ol' Fox is leading with this headline: President Biden fires back at ABC’s David Muir over classified documents scandal. No surprise.

And their next stories are about a bus driver yanking a kid back in to save him from getting hit by a passing car, and overcharging at Costco food court.

Gosh, those are WAY more important than the door-to-door welfare checks ordered by Biden! We don't want no Fox viewers to hear THAT, do we?

[Midnight Writer]

18. Don't forget that LEGOs are too woke because some characters are brown or female.

[Hiawatha Pete]

14. This is the correct thing to do. Good move by President Biden.

[republianmushroom]

16. this is the way it should be done. thanks Joe

[IronLionZion]

21. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young "Ohio"

Or as MAGA would say:

Tin soldiers and Biden's coming
We're finally on our own
This summer, I hear the drumming
Four dead in Ohio

[twodogsbarking]

28. 'Cause out on the edge of darkness There rides the peace train Oh, peace train take this country

Come take me home again