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Noem hits back at FEMA critics, reveals vision for disaster relief agency
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FIRST ON FOX: Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem slammed a group of former and current Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) employees who wrote a letter criticizing the Trump administration’s handling of the agency as she outlined her vision for FEMA’s role in the U.S.
More than 190 former and current FEMA employees joined an open letter on Monday «in response to the Trump administration’s dismantling cuts and devastating attacks on FEMA programs and missions.» On Wednesday morning, the agency’s current employees who signed on to the letter were placed on administrative leave.
«I am not surprised that some of the same bureaucrats who presided over decades of inefficiency are now objecting to reform; including many who worked under the Biden Administration to turn FEMA into the bureaucratic nightmare it is today,» Noem told Fox News Digital on Thursday. «I refuse to accept that FEMA red tape should stand between an American citizen suffering and the aid they desperately need.»
The Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington, D.C. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
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«That’s why I am working so hard to eliminate FEMA as it exists today, and streamline this bloated organization into a tool that actually benefits Americans in crisis,» Noem added.
President Donald Trump, who has been critical of the disaster agency since his presidential campaign, told reporters in June that FEMA «has not worked out well.»
«It’s extremely expensive and, again, when you have a tornado or a hurricane or you have a problem of any kind, in a state, that’s what you have governors for,» Trump added. «They’re supposed to fix those problems, and it’s much more local and they’ll develop a system, and it will be a great system.»
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem snapped at critics of the Trump administration’s handling of FEMA. (Luke Johnson/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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The basis of the letter, which was published by nonprofit Stand Up for Science, focuses on Hurricane Katrina and relays concerns that unpreparedness played a large role in the aftermath that shook the gulf and devastated New Orleans, Louisiana.
Signees argue that Noem and the agency’s leaders «hinder the swift execution of [FEMA’s] mission, and dismiss experienced staff whose institutional knowledge and relationships are vital to ensure effective emergency management.»
Noem told Fox News Digital that these criticisms are remnants of the Biden administration’s wasteful spending, and that the agency «has a history of failing Americans in real emergencies for decades.»
The devastation of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
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«The Biden administration spent hundreds of millions of dollars resettling illegal aliens in our country on American taxpayers’ dime, while FEMA still hasn’t even finished payouts from Hurricane Katrina,» Noem explained to Fox. «We don’t want to just fix a broken system, we want to build something better.»
«As our successes in Texas make clear, the Trump administration has created a deployable disaster force that cuts through the bureaucratic noise, and delivers real results in record time,» Noem added.
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Despite the partisan back-and-forth, some Democrats have recognized the positive direction the disaster agency is heading under Noem and Trump’s leadership.
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear told «At Our Table» podcast host Jaime Harrison earlier this month that «Trump’s FEMA on the ground has done a good job in Kentucky» and that the federal government’s handling of the agency is «actually a credit to [Trump’s] administration.»
Gov. Andy Beshear praised FEMA under President Trump. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Win McNamee/Getty Images)
While the immediate future of FEMA and how Congress may go about funding the agency remains unclear, Noem is optimistic that much of the wasteful spending that came from previous leadership will be put to rest.
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«These [FEMA] career bureaucrats had Support Service contracts for everything they do, from finance to management support to staffing reviews,» a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) spokesperson told Fox News Digital. «They hardly did anything themselves.»
«Instead, they hid their egregious misuse of taxpayer funds under the veneer of ‘emergency management,’» the DOGE office explained to Fox. «No wonder they have the time to write letters to the Hill – they certainly weren’t spending their time working.»
Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News Digital covering breaking news. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston
politics,homeland security,kristi noem,fema
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Francia, Alemania y el Reino Unido presionaron a Irán en la ONU para evitar la reimposición de sanciones por su programa nuclear
Francia, Alemania y el Reino Unido instaron este viernes al régimen de Irán desde la Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU) a cumplir tres condiciones que permitan posponer la reimposición de sanciones, en el marco de una nueva fase de tensión diplomática en torno al programa nuclear iraní.
Según los representantes de los tres países, conocidos como el E3, la suspensión temporal de la medida denominada “snapback” —el restablecimiento inmediato de sanciones— dependería de la restauración del acceso de los inspectores nucleares de la ONU, de respuestas a las inquietudes sobre el inventario de uranio enriquecido de Irán y de la disposición a entablar negociaciones directas con Estados Unidos.
En una declaración conjunta antes de una sesión a puerta cerrada del Consejo de Seguridad, la embajadora británica ante la ONU, Barbara Woodward, leyó el comunicado de los europeos, con sus pares franceses y alemanes a su lado. “Nuestras exigencias eran justas y realistas. Sin embargo, a día de hoy, Irán no ha dado ninguna señal de que tenga intención de cumplirlas”, declaró Woodward.
Woodward explicó que el E3 activó el jueves el proceso de snapback en respuesta a las reiteradas violaciones del acuerdo nuclear de 2015 por parte de Irán. Este mecanismo reactivaría en 30 días las sanciones de la ONU levantadas hace casi una década, a menos que el Consejo adopte una resolución que confirme su suspensión.
El mensaje de las potencias europeas se produce después de que Irán haya restringido la cooperación con el Organismo Internacional de Energía Atómica (OIEA) tras los ataques sufridos en junio en sus instalaciones, atribuidos a Israel y Estados Unidos. Inspectores de la ONU han regresado a Irán, pero no existe aún acuerdo sobre la reanudación plena de las inspecciones.
Irán respondió rechazando la propuesta del E3, calificándola de “llena de condiciones previas poco realistas”, según el embajador iraní ante la ONU, Amir Saeid Iravani. “Están exigiendo condiciones que deben ser el resultado de las negociaciones, no el punto de partida”, dijo Iravani, y añadió que esas demandas no pueden cumplirse. El embajador afirmó que el E3 debería respaldar una “extensión técnica corta e incondicional de la Resolución 2231”, que consagró el acuerdo nuclear de 2015, el llamado Plan de Acción Integral Conjunto (JCPOA).
Rusia y China, aliados estratégicos de Irán, han presentado al Consejo de Seguridad un borrador de resolución que aboga por prorrogar seis meses el acuerdo nuclear y reanudar las negociaciones de inmediato. El primer borrador prohibía al E3 reimponer sanciones, pero esa cláusula ha sido retirada. La resolución necesitaría al menos nueve votos a favor y que ninguno de los cinco países con derecho a veto —Estados Unidos, Francia, el Reino Unido, China o Rusia— lo ejerciera.
La cuestión del cumplimiento del acuerdo nuclear de 2015 centra la crisis. El pacto, firmado entre Irán, el E3, Estados Unidos, China y Rusia, supuso el levantamiento de sanciones a cambio de severas restricciones al programa de enriquecimiento de uranio iraní. Sin embargo, la salida de Estados Unidos del pacto en 2018 y la restauración de sanciones por la administración de Donald Trump debilitaron gravemente el acuerdo, provocando que Irán comenzara a superar los límites pactados.
Según datos recientes, Irán acumula actualmente más de 400 kilos de uranio enriquecido al 60%, superando de manera amplia lo permitido para fines civiles. Los países europeos afirman que este nivel de incumplimiento tiene “graves consecuencias para la capacidad de Irán de avanzar hacia el desarrollo de un arma nuclear”. Las autoridades iraníes insisten en que su programa nuclear mantiene fines exclusivamente civiles y pacíficos.
La controversia ha escalado tras la ofensiva militar iniciada por Israel contra Irán, con el respaldo de Washington, que incluyó ataques a instalaciones nucleares iraníes. Paralelamente, parlamentarios iraníes anunciaron la preparación de un proyecto de ley para abandonar el Tratado de No Proliferación Nuclear (TNP), bloquear negociaciones con las potencias occidentales y suspender la cooperación con la agencia atómica de la ONU.
El ministro iraní de Exteriores, Abbas Araqchi, reiteró que la República Islámica está dispuesta a reiniciar las negociaciones siempre que se demuestre “seriedad y buena fe” y no se emprendan “acciones destructivas” que dificulten el éxito de los futuros contactos. Araqchi cuestionó la legitimidad de las potencias europeas para liderar el proceso de rearme de sanciones: “Europa no solo no cumplió con sus compromisos de normalizar las relaciones comerciales y económicas con Irán, sino que violó el acuerdo”.
(Con información de AFP, EFE y Reuters)
Diplomacy / Foreign Policy,North America,NEW YORK
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Pro-Palestinian conference panelist calls US ‘evil,’ urges ‘destroying the idea of America’
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A panelist speaking at the «People’s Conference for Palestine» in Detroit on Friday called the United States «an evil country» and expressed a need to «destroy the idea of America in Americans’ heads.»
Speaking on a panel titled «No Weapons for Genocide: The People Demand an Arms Embargo,» Sachin Peddada, a Ph.D. student in economics and research coordinator at Progressive International, repeatedly ripped on the United States as an «empire» motivated by greed.
In response to a question about how Americans can get more involved, Peddada paraphrased a quote by deceased Palestinian author Bassel al-Araj, saying, «The average American will never understand the plight of the Palestinian person because the state of Israel is a carbon copy of the United States.
«And, therefore, the thing to do is to destroy the idea of America in Americans’ heads so that they can see the humanity of everybody outside the warping of American exceptionalism and imperialism and all these evil things.»
As Peddada said these words, the crowd broke into applause.
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The statue of George Washington at the university that bears his name wears Palestinian flags, a keffiyeh and stickers in a Gaza solidarity encampment in Washington, D.C., May 6, 2024. (Allison Bailey/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
Peddada continued, saying, «We have to dismantle this idea of American exceptionalism, of supremacy, of being beyond reproach.
«I think it’s very important that we normalize criticism as a healthy process and learn from our experiments in the world to push the boundaries of what is possible, to continue to fight for more and more and to see how the empire responds to us, to continue to push farther and harder.»
At another point during the panel, Peddada declared, «We live in an evil country.»
He said that, since Oct. 7, 2023, «We can say with certainty that the U.S. has been the most complicit country — complicit is not even the right word to use — but the most responsible country for what is happening not only in Gaza but also the West Bank and also all over the global south.»
Peddada claimed that the U.S. is a country that has «functionally for decades been the sole superpower of the world» and has «an agenda that is driven primarily by the accumulation of profit at the expense of human lives.
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Protesters rally outside the Indiana state House chamber in Indianapolis Jan. 18, 2024. (Isabella Volmert/AP Photo)
«To obfuscate that point or beat around the bush there does not serve us; we live in an evil country, that’s just what’s happening,» he said as the crowd again broke into applause.
«That doesn’t mean we’re all evil,» he added. «But it does mean we have a unique responsibility. We have a unique position here in the heart of the empire to act in solidarity with all of our siblings in Gaza and in the West Bank, all around the world.»
Commenting on the remarks, one user on X posted, «As an American, I find this galling.»
«My culture and history have already been relentlessly attacked — statues of Washington, Jefferson, and other Founders torn down as ‘controversial,’» he said. «Now we have conference speakers openly talking about ‘destroying the idea of America.’»
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Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters gather at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City Dec. 19, 2023. (Stephen Yang for Fox News Digital)
The People’s Conference for Palestine, organized by a dozen pro-Palestinian groups, began Friday and will run through Sunday. Even before it started, the gathering drew scrutiny for featuring speakers with extremist views, including two former prisoners of Israel released in a Hamas deal, alongside Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., a prominent anti-Israel congresswoman.
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The conference opened Friday afternoon with an elaborate opening ceremony, in which a speaker, after leading the crowd in chants, invited attendees to rise for «our national anthem» as a band began playing a song in a foreign language. People wearing keffiyehs proceeded in, holding Palestinian flags.
Fox News Digital reached out to Progressive International and the People’s Conference for Palestine for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.
us,israel,anti semitism,patriotism
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