White House spokeswoman snaps at reporter over question on hurricane relief (VIDEO)

They asked why Washington had money ready for Lebanon aid, but needed to request funds from Congress for Hurricane Helene relief

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre clashed with Fox News’ Peter Doocy during a briefing on Monday after he queried Washington’s decisions in relation to the provision of humanitarian aid.

During the daily briefing, Doocy asked Jean-Pierre about the Biden administration’s decision to send nearly $157 million in humanitarian aid to Lebanon amid Israel’s ongoing incursion.

He asked the spokeswoman to explain why Washington had that money at the ready, but had to ask Congress for additional funding for disaster relief efforts in relation to Hurricane Helene.

“On this issue of funding, the administration has money to send to Lebanon without Congress coming back. But Congress does have to come back to approve money to send to people in North Carolina. Do I have that right?” Doocy inquired, referring to a letter sent to Congress by President Joe Biden last week.

In the correspondence, Biden said US disaster relief agencies had money “to meet immediate needs” but would likely run out within weeks.

Doocy: That’s not misinformation

KJP: Your whole premise of your question is misinformation sir. pic.twitter.com/EtgskOgTdZ

— Acyn (@Acyn) October 7, 2024

Jean-Pierre responded that the White House already had “more than $200 million… for the disaster help,” and accused Doocy of spreading “disinformation.”

“People want to do disinformation, misinformation, which is dangerous because then when folks on the ground hear that, they may not want to ask for the help that they need, that is there for them,” she said.

“You can’t call a question you don’t like misinformation,” Doocy replied, saying it was not “misinformation” to say there’s “not enough money right now” for hurricane victims.

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Jean-Pierre shot back that the “whole premise of the question is misinformation,” claiming that the administration had the money available to help survivors, and that Biden’s letter and request for additional funding was necessary because it was unknown “how bad” Hurricane Milton, currently brewing in the Gulf of Mexico, is going to be.

The heated exchange ended with Jean-Pierre saying Congress, which is currently in recess in the leadup to November’s presidential election, should “come back and do their job,” before ending the briefing and walking out.

Hurricane Helene swept through the American southeast late last month, killing more than 225 people and leaving tens of thousands without running water, power, or cell-phone service.

US presidential candidate Donald Trump has also criticized the White House response to Hurricane Helene, calling it the “most incompetently managed ‘storm’ at federal level ever seen before.” He accused the Biden administration of “abandoning” storm victims and sending relief funds to undocumented migrants.


READ MORE: Musk accuses Biden administration of blocking disaster relief

However, Trump himself was criticized by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on Monday, with administrator Deanne Criswell saying he was “having a hard time telling the difference between fact and fiction,” and that such claims were “frankly ridiculous.”

‘Beginning of an end’: Gazan woman tells her story of how October 7 destroyed her world

During one year of fighting, the intense bombardment by Israel has left more than 41,000 people dead

Marah Al Satri, a 20-year-old Palestinian from Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, reflects with pain on the events of the past year, which began on October 7, 2023, when some 3,000 Hamas militants infiltrated southern Israel, kidnapping 252 people and leaving over 1,200 people dead and 5,000 injured.

“I was sleeping and was awakened by the sounds of rockets. I was terrified and did not know what was happening. Nor did I know who was launching the rockets, whether it was Israel or the armed factions,” she recalls.

But the speech of Mohammed Deif, the then commander of Al Qassam Brigades, which was screened on Saturday morning, shortly after the beginning of the Hamas attack, left no room for doubt.

“We have decided to put an end to all of the occupation’s crimes,” he said. “The time is over for them [Israel] to [continue to] act without accountability. Thus, we announce the ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ operation, and in the first strike within 20 minutes, more than 5,000 rockets were launched.”

Al Satri says she was “terrified” when she heard the speech. She was certain “Israel would want to take revenge” and sensed that it was the beginning of an end.

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What followed was the materialization of her fears. Since October 7, Israel’s extensive bombardment has claimed the lives of more than 41,000 people, many of whom were women and children. Thousands of others have been wounded or are unaccounted for.

The bombardment and the intense fighting have also led to massive destruction. By September 13, 44% of Gaza’s hospitals had become partially functional, while 85% of schools and 68% of farmland had been impacted. Nearly 59% of Gaza’s buildings have been damaged or destroyed. More than a million people have become internally displaced.

That fate did not spare Al Satri and her family.

“It happened last November. We were in our house next to the Red Crescent in Khan Younis, when suddenly the Israeli army bombed the complex where we lived. The ten buildings collapsed and we found ourselves under the rubble.” 

Al Satri was lucky. Along with her father and four of her brothers, she was pulled out and despite their injuries, they survived. Her mother, along with three brothers and the entire family of her uncle, were all gone.

Soon after, Al Satri and what remained of her family were displaced to Rafah in the south of Gaza. Due to the severe injuries of one of her brothers – Mohammed – they were allowed to cross the border into Egypt, leaving behind their father. But the moment they got there, Mohammed passed away. Al Satri was left with her four younger siblings.

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Al Satri doesn’t work as her status in Egypt doesn’t allow her to do so. She lives in an unfurnished apartment and relies on external aid distributed by agencies. With the money she gets, she supports her four siblings, and she says she needs to be strong for them.

“Let’s be honest, I do not have the strength or will to move forward, but I am forced to live so that my young brothers can live, as they need me and I cannot leave them alone. Sometimes I wish for death, especially now, when I live in a foreign state, where nobody cares about me,” she lamented. 

Al Satri is fed up with pretty much everyone involved, directly or indirectly, in this conflict. She blames Israel for the “crimes it committed against civilians, who have nothing to do with Hamas.” She blamed ordinary Israelis for electing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Arab nations that sit idly by, watching how Gazans are “being massacred.”

And, most importantly, she points the finger of blame at Hamas and its ultimate leader, Yahiya Sinwar.

“I blame Hamas because it initiated the war that was not in our interest but in order to implement Iranian agendas, and I blame Sinwar because he is a war criminal like Netanyahu,” she said, adding that he hides behind ordinary civilians to promote his goals. 

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Throughout the war, Sinwar and Hamas have been condemned, by Israel and some Palestinians, for hiding in tunnels while exposing women, children, and the elderly to the brutality of Israeli strikes.

One year on, that reality hasn’t changed. Civilians continue to die, Hamas refuses to release the 101 hostages still being kept in Gaza, and Al Satri says this vicious cycle will never stop.

“How can it stop?” Al Satri asked. “Israel, with its crimes and killing of civilians, has created an entire generation of children who hate it. This orphaned generation will grow up one day, and loaded with hatred and revenge, it will carry out another October 7… not for Iran or the corrupt Hamas. This time they will do it to avenge the spilt blood of their families. And there is no end in sight.” 

Why Both of America’s Presidential Candidates Are Fascists

8 October 2024, by Eric Zuesse

A fascist is a supremacist who thinks that “ONLY people like US — “WE” people [however that person primarily defines himself or herself] — should count; we are indispensable, and everyone else is dispensable.” Mussolini defined fascism as “corporationism”, and he was right, because that comes down to the same thing, and I shall therefore discuss that equation between fascism and corporationism at the end here. But what is basic to understand about fascism, at the very beginning here, is that it is political belief in supremacism of one group over everyone else within the polity or nation, and it is simultaneously the belief that oneself is WITHIN that ‘supreme’ group. (For example, opponents of that group are not necessarily fascists.) In a corporation, the supreme group are the owners, but in a polity it’s the individuals who actually control the nation, regardless of whether or not those individuals are the nation’s official rulers. (This isn’t about official titles, such as “The President”; it is only about reality.) Or, as U.S. President G.W. Bush phrased this, “You’re either with us or against us.” In the neoconservative (which is America’s version of internationalist fascism) view, every contest is a purely win-lose game; win-win games are only for sissies (fascists contemptuously derogate their ‘enemies’); and, so, as Barack Obama phrased this, “The United States is and remains the one indispensable nation. That has been true for the century passed and it will be true for the century to come.” In other words: all other nations are “dispensable.” That is the neoconservative view (the American-fascist view), and it has been the U.S. Deep State’s view ever since that Deep State took over the U.S. Government on 25 July 1945.

The international (as opposed to national — or “intranational”) extension of fascism is this same supremacist attitude but toward “our” nation or alliance of nations against all others (nations not allied with “ours”). For example, America kicked-out the U.N.’s weapons-inspectors and invaded Iraq and effectively killed Iraq’s leader on 20 March 2003 because America’s Government is fascist, and America bombed Libya and effectively killed Libya’s leader in 2011 because America’s Government is fascist. All of this is history, which cannot be denied, just as it is history and cannot be denied that Mussolini and Hitler were fascists. Maybe today’s pro-U.S.-Government fascists will deny it, but all of this is undeniably history, regardless of what liars allege.

On 20 August 2024, I headlined “Since Kamala Harris Won’t Reveal Her Record and Policies, I Will:”, and that proved she’s a fascist (though, as a liberal, she’s a lying  closeted fascist); and, so, here, I shall prove the same about Trump (though, as a populist, he too is a lying closeted fascist).

First of all, who controls the mega-corporations, including the mega-foundations, and mega think tanks, and mega news-media? Billionaires do. There are only about a thousand of them in America, but they control all of those organizations, and so those organizations are agents of theirs, and the billionaires’ agents hire and fire to get the best sub-agents (employees) they can for their boss’s money, to carry out the owner’s bidding.

Here is how it works at the very top of the U.S. Government, as explained by Trump, during his first-ever political debate, the first 2015 Republican Presidential candidates’ debate, which was held by Fox News on 6 August 2015:

[The following portion of the transcript is shown in video here (and here), and is discussed here:]

DONALD TRUMP: I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people. Before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And you know what? When I need something from them, two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. And that’s a broken system.

CHRIS WALLACE: So what did you get? So what did you get from Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, I’ll tell you what. With Hillary Clinton, I said, “Be at my wedding,” and she came to my wedding. You know why? She had no choice, because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn’t know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was.

Basically, American politics is a bribing-contest between the super-richest Americans in order to determine which ones of them will end up controlling the elected officials who control the Government (just like both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris do). And this fact has been proven scientifically; it isn’t merely Trump’s publicly stated opinion (and Kamala Harris’s secret). America is long past the time when our Constitution was more than mere words on parchment. This nation since then has become a two-Party one-system aristocracy — the wealthiest rule here (even though behind the scenes). An aristocracy used to be called a feudalism, but now it is called a fascism, or a corporationism, because a corporation is one-share-one-vote, and a fascism is one-dollar-one-vote. The private wealth rules it and is served by it, in either case (and regardless of what they might call their particular fascist Party). Liberal fascists might be more hypocritical about it than conservatives ones are, but there’s no basic difference between the two types of fascism.

As regards some of the specific instances which show Trump to be a fascist, Caitlin Johnstone has done a good job of that.

So, what America’s voters are given to vote for are the nominee of Republican Party billionaires, versus the nominee of Democratic Party billionaires. Regardless of what the nominee might be promising publicly to voters, that person will be delivering on what he or she had secretly promised to that person’s mega-donors. This is the way any aristocracy works. It serves the aristocrats, not the public. Like Trump was honest enough to say, “I said, ‘Be at my wedding,’ and she came to my wedding. You know why? She had no choice, because I gave.” The voters are mere pawns. What’s taught about the U.S. Government, in the schools and universities (that in America a politician’s public promises are commitments, and the politician’s private promises aren’t commitments), is what the billionaires want the public to believe about it, not what it really is. This is just a scientifically established fact. (Click on it there to see the evidence regarding it.)

Another interesting fact is that before the 2024 U.S. Presidential primaries had even started, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump all had higher “Disapprove” than “Approve” ratings from the American people, because they all were widely despised on the basis of their actual records; and by far the highest net-approval rating of all named persons by the public, was (this was in the first-ever poll that included all of the possible contestants) for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (at +21% net-favorability), whom Joe Biden (at -11% net-favorability) refused to allow to compete against Biden in his Party’s primaries; so, Kennedy quit that effort and ran independently, which (third-party efforts) is now impossible to succeed in today’s American system; and, so, America will now get either of the two fascists (Trump had -3% net-favorability rating in that poll; Harris had -10% net-favorability rating there) as America’s new President, on January 20th.

So, all of the ‘news’-media, and political ‘scientists’ who refer to America as a “democracy” are either fools or liars, because nothing in the social sciences is as overwhelmingly documented as that any such allegation about today’s America is false, and that anyone who would say that America’s “enemies” are so because they’re “autocracies” or “dictatorships” instead of because America’s billionaires want to take them over — “regime-change” them — is nothing but an agent of America’s billionaires and an imperialist (which all of U.S.-and-allied — or colonial — billionaires are). Billionaires naturally want to expand their empire still further; and, so, imperialism is at least as natural for them as heterosexuality is natural for the entire human population.

Nothing that is said here is against a nation’s going to war (it’s not necessarily for ‘peace’, if surrender is the wrong thing to do), but it is instead anti-imperialist: it is against all forms of aggression (international coercion). Under international law, every nation has the right of self-defense, and that is its right against ANY imperialist which endangers that nation’s sovereignty over its own territory.

And this ALSO doesn’t say anything at all either for or against a national region’s right to secede from its existing nation. Under international law, that right does exist if the given nation is unfairly abusing that region; so, judgment on such a matter is ONLY on a case-by-case basis, not subject to any single law. (Furthermore: no foreign nation has ANY right to interfere in a given nation’s civil war — any such involvement by any foreign nation or entity is imperialistic and ought to be outlawed by the U.N., so that ONLY the U.N. itself will be able to have any foreign involvement in it.)

To boil all of this down: the U.S. is a fascist country.

—————

Investigative historian Eric Zuesse’s latest book, AMERICA’S EMPIRE OF EVIL: Hitler’s Posthumous Victory, and Why the Social Sciences Need to Change, is about how America took over the world after World War II in order to enslave it to U.S.-and-allied billionaires. Their cartels extract the world’s wealth by control of not only their ‘news’ media but the social ‘sciences’ — duping the public.