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			Elon Musk Lies, Falsely Claims Subsidizing Starlink Would Have Saved Hurricane Helene Victims
	
	







				Overhype			


from the don't-believe-anything-that-comes-out-of-my-mouth dept


		Fri, Oct 4th 2024 05:34am - 	
Karl Bode

I know I’ve argued that not every Elon Musk brain fart warrants its own news cycle, but this one is particularly gross given recent events.
We’ve noted repeatedly how in 2020, the Trump administration tried to give Elon Musk’s low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite broadband company Starlink nearly a billion dollars in taxpayer subsidies to connect some traffic medians and airport parking lots.
We’ve also noted that Musk and his Republican friends have been whining like toddlers because the Biden FCC backed away from those subsidies, correctly noting that they weren’t sure that the expensive and increasingly congestion-plagued satellite service could consistently deliver quality speeds. Instead, the Biden FCC (again, correctly) argued that if you’re going to spend billions of taxpayer money on broadband, it should be on more reliable and less congested options like fiber, 5G, or fixed wireless. 
Enter Hurricane Helene, which recently carved a swath of destruction from Florida into the Carolinas, destroying homes and knocking out power and cell service for millions of people. Musk apparently couldn’t help but inject himself into the story, using the suffering of Helene victims as the perfect opportunity to whine that he should have gotten more taxpayer money:



If you can’t see it, that’s Musk claiming over at his post-truth network that if the FCC had agreed to give Starlink a billion dollars, there’d be nearly 20,000 working satellite kits in areas impacted by Helene. He goes on to falsely accuse the FCC of killing people and breaking the law, adding “lawfare costs lives.”
There was nothing illegal about the FCC’s decision. Even if Musk’s Starlink had received the money, the build out the money was funding wouldn’t have started until 2025. And even if Starlink had received that money, there’s no guarantee that locals could have afforded the expensive $120 a month (plus hardware fees) the service costs. Or that the power would have been on so that the dishes could have been used. Or that roof-mounted dishes would have survived the storm. 
And this is all before you get to the fact the Musk whines constantly about how he really doesn’t like subsidies — right before turning around with his hand outstretched. And again, as consumer groups noted early on, Starlink was one of several companies that tried to game the badly mismanaged Trump-era broadband subsidy program despite being unable to meet program speed goals.
“Chairwoman Rosenworcel stands by the FCC’s thorough review of a program meant to provide long-term access to reliable and affordable broadband in rural communities,” the commission said in a statement provided to PC Magazine. “In this instance, the agency denied public funds to more than a dozen companies—not just Starlink—who did not meet the program requirements. As an independent agency, the FCC takes seriously its obligation to ensure that taxpayer dollars only go to entities that fully comply with the rules and the law.”
When it comes to subsidizing broadband, you want taxpayer money going to the most beneficial and cost effective option. Usually that’s something like middle mile or open access last mile fiber networks, which not only drive high-capacity, “future proof” fiber connectivity into a region, but also improve local cellular connectivity, and lower the cost of market entry to boost regional broadband competition. 
If you can’t do that, you subsidize local 5G and fixed wireless efforts, which are more congested than fiber but still generally more reliable and less capacity constrained than satellite. Starlink is a fine option to fill in the coverage gaps after you’ve done all of that, but again it lacks the capacity to truly scale and it’s expensive — which is a problem given that cost is the biggest obstacle to U.S. broadband access at the moment.
What you don’t do is throw billions of unaccountable taxpayer dollars at a petty billionaire’s expensive satellite venture that may or may not even exist ten years from now, and is increasingly seeing congestion and slowdowns due to over-saturation of the physics-constrained network. 
Of course Musk being Musk, he couldn’t help but inject himself into a massive tragedy to try and generate pity and grab additional taxpayer money. Meanwhile, the FCC is actually coordinating disaster response and tracking service and 911 outages, while providing discounted communications access to impacted survivors. FEMA says it’s also trying to leverage all manner of options, including Starlink, to shore up regional emergency connectivity. 
To be clear Musk did do more than tweet. The conspiratorial CEO claims he did actually send some Starlink terminals to the powerless region, though Musk being Musk, and the U.S. press being the U.S. press, it’s not entirely clear if anybody actually confirmed delivery. Most of the press ignored his gross subsidy quip, and immediately jumped to portraying Musk as an altruistic life saver who is single-handedly restoring connectivity to the region:



Usually what winds up being the most help in disasters like this (after food and water) are good old traditional HAM radio operators, who help orchestrate basic coordination when all other options are out of commission. What doesn’t necessarily help as much are loud-mouthed, petulant and conspiratorial billionaires with more money than sense, keen on exploiting tragedies to undermine government regulators and glom on to taxpayer subsidies they routinely pretend to have disdain for.


	Filed Under: broadband, disaster, elon musk, fcc, fiber, high speed internet, hurricane helene, satellite, starlink, subsidies


	Companies: spacex, starlink



























79 CommentsLeave a Comment







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			Comments on “Elon Musk Lies, Falsely Claims Subsidizing Starlink Would Have Saved Hurricane Helene Victims”			

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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 5:39 am





Well, we all know what a diehard believer in free speech Elmo is, and speech does include lies.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 5:51 am





The FCC is both weak and strong.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 6:10 am





FEMA is broke, according to mayorokas.
Spent all the money housing illegal immigrants


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 6:32 am


						Re: 					


🥱


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 6:45 am


						Re: 					


FEMA’s budget, over the last 30 years, has been primarily though supplemental appropriations.   That is to say, FEMA runs out of money almost every year.  It ran out of money every year under Trump.  This is a controversy only because congress has decided the 50 billion it gave trump in 2018 was too much, and it needs to make due with 30 billion in 2024.  That 20 billion gap would mean a whole lot more than the $650 million used to shelter migrants.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 6:49 am


						Re: Re: 					


And it should be further noted the reason FEMA works through supplemental appropriatios is fiscal responsibilty.  We give them funding in response to disaster.  FEMA saying hey there’s been a disaster we need money is explicitly what we expect FEMA to do.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 7:59 am


						Re: 					


Why haven’t all the Christians stepped in and completely funded efforts with the wealth God has given them?


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Stephen T. Stone (profile) says: 

October 4, 2024 at 11:33 am


						Re: Re: 					


Because those ultra-wealthy Christians wouldn’t have money to live in mansions and travel in private jets⁠—just like God would’ve wanted them to do (according to them).


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 12:34 pm


						Re: Re: 					


There was that one time a prosperity gospel type person had the opportunity to open their place of worship, that had not flooded, to those who were homeless due to a hurricane ….
guess what they did.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 11, 2024 at 6:17 am


						Re: 					


Mayorokas is wrong. Hope that helps.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 7:10 am





This is ironic the agency responsible for emergency flood relief says it’s close to running out of money even as theres massive work to be done to clean up after hurricane Helene
and hurricane season is not over yet
There’s no cell service in many areas or power so there could be still people waiting to be rescued


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 7:18 am


						Re: 					


Not to worry!  Under a second Trump presidency, Project 2025 would have ensured that the agency had run out of money way earlier!


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Stephen T. Stone (profile) says: 

October 4, 2024 at 8:06 am


						Re: Re: 					


It would also ensure that FEMA/emergency funding would only be deployed in full within states run by Republican governors (who also sufficiently kissed Trump’s ass).
…then again, that’s less of a Project 2025 thing and more of a Trump thing.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 7:35 am


						Re: 					


FEMA’s budget, over the last 30 years, has been primarily though supplemental appropriations. That is to say, FEMA runs out of money almost every year. It is the opposite of ironic, this is entirely expected and predictable. Until very recently, we only ever provided funding for disaster relief when a disaster occurred.  And while FEMA does get baseline funding now, FEMA has continued to require supplemental funding, as it has almost every year for the past 30. If someone is surprised FEMA was running out of money, They are liars or uninformed.


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7of7 says: 

October 5, 2024 at 6:03 am


						Re: Re: 					


For FEMA to say they are out of money in the middle of a disaster is horrible. It’s like they are telling these people don’t expect much from us. So what do you expect other sources to do, wait for their approval while people and animals die?


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 5, 2024 at 11:42 am


						Re: Re: Re: 					


It’s like you didn’t understand what he wrote.
FEMA has no real control over their budget, but guess who has?


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 7:44 am


						Those systems wouldn't have been operational anyway					


In an event like this, pretty much all telecom gear fails.  It either gets destroyed by wind or flood or landslides, or the supporting infrastructure (power, buildings) gets taken out, or its batteries go dead after a few hours/days, or the endpoints that might use it run out of power.  (I.e. even if there was an operational Starlink node in Asheville’s Arts District right now, everyone’s desktops have no power and their laptops, tablets, and phones haven’t been recharged in days.)
You know what works in circumstances likes this?  Land lines.  Copper land lines.  They work because the engineers who designed and built them back in the day were fanatics, and they designed and built them to survive pretty much anything.  They’re powered from a CO, and most CO’s have redundant power (including batteries, generators, sometimes wind or solar, sometimes hookups for towed-in portable generators).  Because of all this, land lines work under ridiculous circumstances when everything else has long since failed.
If you want to save lives in a flood or hurricane or tornado or earthquake or fire, then you need to ensure that good old copper land lines are in place and operational before the disaster.
And of course telcos around the country are busy abandoning them/ripping them out at the same time when the frequency and severity of natural disasters are both increasing.


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Arijirija says: 

October 6, 2024 at 12:21 am


						Re: 					


I can verify that from personal experience. I was in Christchurch, New Zealand, in Feb22 2011, when the 2nd major earthquake struck, and cell phone towers went on the blink like all other electrical equipment, because the power lines were knocked down, etc. I had a land line, and got in touch with friends and family. That was about all the communications there was, until the power got restored.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 7:57 am





What could have saved lives is not the real reason for the politics of bullshit.
If people had done more to stop pollution decades ago,
if local municipalities were to design drainage for situations over and above normal everyday precipitation,
if people were to take advantage of early warnings and gtfo
if employers were to give a shit about the people they take advantage of
… if is a huge word


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Pixelation says: 

October 4, 2024 at 8:05 am





Do you think Elon has a god complex?  (That’s a rhetorical question, for those of you who haven’t had your coffee yet)


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 8:11 am


						Re: 					


Rhetorical question or not, I’ll answer it anyway. No, I don’t think Elmo has a god complex. I know he does.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 8:43 am





People should have evacuated earlier  all company’s should have shut down except essential services to let people get to a safe area    this could happen again climate change is making hurricanes and flooding more extreme and they can reach hundreds of miles into American states   we have satellites that can track hurricanes minute by minute
Congress has to vote more funding for fema  before the next hurricane appears


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 9:40 am


						Re: 					


Easy in theory, hard in practice.  It’s very difficult to convince people to voluntarily evacuate in anticipation of an unprecedented event because they won’t believe the forecast.  (And if you get it wrong, they certainly won’t believe it the second time.)
So that means you need mandatory evacuation orders, and that’s also something you can’t risk screwing up.  Then you need to propagate those orders, and you need to enforce them, and you need the logistical/transportation resources to do so.  And then all those people have to go somewhere, and where, exactly, do you think that should be?
All of this takes time, which means you have a window from when you’re sure enough about the forecast to when the event starts happening. (Because trying to evacuate people during a severe weather event may kill more than it saves.)   It also takes money, and once again, if it turns out you’re wrong and you exhausted the budget, then how are you going to get more money?
There’s more (a lot more) but the bottom line is that we’re facing unprecedented weather events with increasing frequency and severity, and the institutions, procedures, and societal norms that we have in place really can’t cope.  The right thing to do was to listen to climate scientists decades ago when they started ringing the alarm bells, but it’s too late for that now. Now all we have are increasingly desperate band-aids that aren’t going to work very well.
And as if this isn’t depressing enough: this wasn’t The Big One.  Neither was Sandy, neither was Katrina, neither was Harvey.  The Big One hasn’t hit yet.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 5, 2024 at 4:19 am


						Re: Re: 					


Oh, that makes it ok then?


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 5, 2024 at 11:45 am


						Re: Re: Re: 					


Did someone suggest it was ok?


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 7, 2024 at 4:35 am


						Re: Re: 					


So what’s wrong with pre-prep where sports stadia etc. are on constant standby just in case?


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 4:53 pm


						Re: 					


Before next week? Would be nice….


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PB&J (profile) says: 

October 4, 2024 at 9:31 am





Ummm, I’d just like to say that I also donated 1000 Starlink satellite access kits to the Carolinas!  Sure I did!  I guarantee it!
(hey, “The rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact-check!”)


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That One Guy (profile) says: 

October 4, 2024 at 9:59 am


						A special kind of scum to be precise					


It takes a truly special kind of person to look at a disaster with piles of bodies worth of dead people, countless homes destroyed and the ‘lucky’ inhabitants left homeless and dependent upon the good will of others to survive and in that situation ask yourself, ‘Okay, but what about me? How do I exploit this for my sake?’


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Stephen T. Stone (profile) says: 

October 4, 2024 at 10:09 am


						Re: 					


So, a capitalist, then.


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Whiskey Tango says: 

October 4, 2024 at 11:23 am


						Re: Re: Can We Get Another Button Added					


So many comments I kinda want to mark as ‘funny,’ but… only in the sense of a dark, bitter kind of comedy.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 5:59 pm


						Re: Re: 					


Indeed, a disaster capitalist, to be precise.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 5, 2024 at 12:49 pm


						Re: 					


He was trying to give out free starlinks, guess he is not a preferred vendor for FEMA.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 5, 2024 at 4:28 pm


						Re: Re: 					


Whether he did give out free Starlinks or not doesn’t really matter when he claimed that “Had the FCC not illegally revoked SpaceX Starlink award, it would probably have saved lives in North Carolina”.
Is this something that’s too hard to understand? Especially since the buildout was going to start next year? Please tell us how something that was supposed to happen in the future can save lives in the present?


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 11, 2024 at 6:27 am


						Re: Re: 					


He didn’t give out free anything. He framed it like he was, but he was only offering a free month of service if you buy a $350 terminal.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 10:58 am





Much better that FEMA spends stolen U.S. taxpayers’ money funding ILLEGAL ALIENS who COMPETE WITH AMERICANS FOR JOBS AND HOUSING.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 10:58 am


						Re: 					


🥱


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 11:04 am


						Re: Re: 					


Your contempt of Americans suffering and dying as the federal government fails to help them effectively during this disaster is disgusting.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 11:25 am


						Re: Re: Re: 					


You understanding of how FEMA has received funding over the last 3 decades is quite flawed. No one is actually estimating the costs of disasters and appropriating funds in the normal appropriations process.  FEMA has run out of money every year for the last 30.  The accusation that $650 million in funds were wasted on housing “illegal aliens” and that FEMA wouldn’t run out of money if they were less ‘wasteful’ is false.
Dems do not control the purse strings.  Give FEMA the additional 20 billion budget it had in 2018, and see how much more effective it is than it is today.


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TaboToka (profile) says: 

October 4, 2024 at 11:31 am


						Re: Re: Re: Lol, I wonder who caused that?					



  as the federal government fails to help them

Then place the blame where it lies: the GOP.
If you think the GOP cares about anyone who is not rich†, you’re living in the land of delusion.
†They “care” about suckers they can convince to vote for them, but only as a means to an end.


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TaboToka (profile) says: 

October 4, 2024 at 11:15 am


						Re: Jobs					



  funding [undocumented immigrants] who COMPETE WITH AMERICANS FOR JOBS AND HOUSING.

If you’re unable to compete in the market for a job and housing, you aren’t doing it right — and we aren’t going to give you the job/housing welfare you crave.
You forget this is America, not some socialist hellhole like Sweden or The Netherlands that guarantee its citizens such things.

  FEMA spends stolen U.S. taxpayers’ money

Ahh, I see the problem. You failed to get a basic education on how society and government works. Did you go to school in a Red State, perchance?
Here’s an easy way to understand: taxes are fees you pay to live in a civilized society.


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That One Guy (profile) says: 

October 4, 2024 at 1:15 pm


						Re: Re: 					


If you’re unable to compete in the market for a job and housing, you aren’t doing it right — and we aren’t going to give you the job/housing welfare you crave.
The complaint of ‘those darn furriners stealin’ our jerbs!’ has long amused me for several reasons, ranging from the all but certain fact that most if not all of the people whining would refuse the jobs in question(back-breaking manual labor for literally illegally low pay? Sign me up!) or would quit in short order, to how it’s one of the most effective blame redirections in US history as the people that should be blamed, the business owners who are choosing to hire immigrants(documented or not) rather than hire red-blooded ‘muricans never seem to garner any of the blame at all.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 2:18 pm


						Re: Re: Re: 					


Pretty much, it really cracks me up that immigrants that doesn’t really know the language and who are poorly educated and possibly illiterate apparently can take jobs from well spoken and well educated Americans.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 5, 2024 at 4:23 am


						Re: Re: Re:2 


Immigrants are both weak and strong.
They are lazy unemployed on welfare and at the same time busily taking all your jobs.
Makes total sense to MAGA brained zombies.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 11:18 am


						Re: 					


FEMA has at no time in the last 30 years, been provided normal appropriations funding and that funding was sufficient to handle all disasters.  FEMA’s disaster relief is appropriated when disasters occur, as a matter of real world policy.  That $650 Million isn’t fixing a need of tens of billions likely to be spent before the hurricane season is over.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 11:20 am


						Re: Re: 					


FEMA just spent $1billion of U.S. Taxpayers’ money on illegal aliens…money that could’ve gone to help hurricane victims (actual Americans–illegal aliens shouldn’t receive any help or support from the U.S. gov’t).
Why do you hate American citizens so much?


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 11:31 am


						Re: Re: Re: 					


🥱


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 11:36 am


						Re: Re: Re: 					


Only a sigma cuck would believe that!1!
Thst’s only teh story to distract us from the Scientific Fact that illegals Caused the hurycane!!!
And cancer!
BABY cancer.
Coz they’re marxist sociailst satanist atheist trans-ist gay pedo jew-lizard aliens. From SATURN.
cuck.
…Did I do it right? I thought it sounded pretty accurate, I put in misspellings and everything.
Look, maybe you don’t sound like that– yet– but that’s the side you’re on. Are you happy with that?


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 11:36 am


						Re: Re: Re: 					


FEMA spent $650 million in a year, not a billion.
FEMA’s budget is 30 Billion in 2024, under a budget set by a Republican congress.  By contrast, FEMA’s budget in 2018 with a republican congress was 50 billion.
I think the problem is the 20 billion, not the 0.65 Billion.


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Stephen T. Stone (profile) says: 

October 4, 2024 at 11:39 am


						Re: Re: Re:2 


And that $650mil spent on immigrants came from Customs and Border Patrol. Congress redirected it to FEMA for administration.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 11:38 am


						Re: Re: Re: 					


Kindly provide citations or fuck off


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Stephen T. Stone (profile) says: 

October 4, 2024 at 11:37 am


						Re: 					


Except FEMA didn’t spend that money⁠—Customs and Border Patrol did. You should make sure the evidence of your lie isn’t easily available if you plan to keep telling that lie.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 12:28 pm


						Re: Re: 					


The US Gov’t spent $1billion on incentivizing illegal aliens to continue invading our country rather than simply deport all the fuckers.
Why do you love the U.S. Gov’t and hate the American People?


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 12:38 pm


						Re: Re: Re: 					


imagine copy pasting the exact words 🥱


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Stephen T. Stone (profile) says: 

October 4, 2024 at 3:01 pm


						Re: Re: Re: 					


I don’t love the U.S. government. I don’t hate the people of the United States. What I despise is needless cruelty, and treating all immigrants⁠—undocumented or otherwise⁠—as if they’re “pests” in need of “pest control” is needless cruelty. Yes, the immigration system of this country needs reform. But unnecessarily hurting people only because some racist asshole believes “non-White immigrants aren’t people” isn’t the reform that system needs.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 4:32 pm


						Re: Re: Re:2 


Illegal aliens ARE “pests” who have no right to come to the United States and whose presence here only harms American citizens.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 5:27 pm


						Re: Re: Re:3 


your just proving stephen right


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Stephen T. Stone (profile) says: 

October 4, 2024 at 5:31 pm


						Re: Re: Re:3 


I sincerely hope you mature past your “performative racism” phase one day.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 7:04 pm


						Re: Re: Re:3 


Talk about cultural appropriation, don’t go and steal Native Americans’ sentiment about the pests that swarmed all over North America like locusts, stealing almost everything they came across while killing or enslaving anyone who protested.
Fucking pest.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 5, 2024 at 3:08 pm


						Re: Re: Re:4 


And then, many years later in Idaho, a white politician tells a Native American to go back to where he came from.
Would be funny if the reply was something to the effect …
‘I would except you build a skyscraper on it’


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 11, 2024 at 6:35 am


						Re: Re: Re: 					


Saying the same stupid, false shit over and over only works when Trump is convincing you a lie is true. That tactic isn’t going to work here. We already know you’re stupid.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 11, 2024 at 6:29 am


						Re: 					


Good news then. None of that is true and you’re a dunce.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 12:36 pm





Putin’s cyber warriors are out in force, it will get worse I bet.


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Hilarious says: 

October 4, 2024 at 5:06 pm





The very first sentence of this article, complaining about a thing Musk said on his “post-truth network,” is itself a complete falsehood.
Good job.  Look at yourself in a mirror and realize you’re a liar.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 6:28 pm


						Re: 					


So what is the falsehood?
That Musk didn’t say something or that the complaint is false?
Please try again.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 8:54 pm


						Re: 					


Senpai will never notice you


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Richard says: 

October 4, 2024 at 5:25 pm


						You need to double check the facts					


You need to double check your facts. If they weren’t necessary or beneficial then why are they passing them out. Moreover not the complete state recieved the same devastation so to have those 19500+ units available would definitely been beneficial to those in harms way, or in dire need of assistance.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 4, 2024 at 6:58 pm


						Re: 					


Yes, double check facts. The deployment subsidy of those 19500 units was supposed start next year so saying that all those units would have helped kind of ignore the simple fact there wouldn’t have been any units deployed.
The whole line of reasoning is stupid in the extreme, because it’s using the hindsight of an unanticipated natural disaster and its victims to blame a decision made years ago which is totally unrelated.
I have to ask, do you understand that we live in a reality that by all evidence has linear time were things that hasn’t happened yet can’t affect current events??


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Nimrod (profile) says: 

October 6, 2024 at 3:13 pm


						Re: 					


The complete state DID NOT receive the same devastation. How do I know this? I live in Chapel Hill, NC, a mere 230 miles from Asheville, give or take a mile or two.
You speak of facts yet know none.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 5, 2024 at 4:05 am






  Elon Musk Lies, Falsely Claims Subsidizing Starlink Would Have Saved Hurricane Helene Victims

But it’s true that subsidizing Starlink would have saved Hurricane Helene victims, just like Starlink providing strong, reliable Internet access would have saved the 15,000,000+ minorities who died in the Holocaust.
(Now let’s see if Elmo makes himself look even more ridiculous by claiming the above.)


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 5, 2024 at 6:39 am





Wow, propaganda of hate.. civilians helping other civilians on blast. Try to mimic a journalist at least a tiny bit.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 5, 2024 at 12:43 pm





This whole martial is propaganda bullshit. I mean complete bullshit.


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Tired of fake news says: 

October 5, 2024 at 10:05 pm


						What a garbage hit piece					


Bidens FCC says Starlink can’t meet expectations as FEMA rushes dishes to emergency situations because it’s the only thing that works.  What’s the uptime on that Fiber in Western NC.  Too much politics not enough common sense involved here.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 6, 2024 at 6:02 am


						Re: 					


Another idiot who lack reading comprehension resulting in a mishmash of conflated things.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 6, 2024 at 6:12 am


						Re: 					


Wow, the world ends without Leon’s wonderful sat phone.
It’s as it the entire radio spectrum was no longer useful.
Weird isn’t it?


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 7, 2024 at 7:13 am


						Re: 					


None of the funding revoked from Starlink would have gone to private dishes that could have maintained communication and therefore saved lives.  Even if they had, the dishes would have been destroyed by the hurricane that was risking lives in the first place.
Their value when brought in to help coordinate emergency response is unrelated to their value in saving lives during the hurricane.
The absurd effort needed to move the goalposts on what benefit Musk claimed the funding would provide is horrifying.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 6, 2024 at 1:52 pm





Just wanted to point out that the “ham” in “ham radio” (amateur radio) is not an acronym and should not be written in all caps.
That’s all. Carry on.


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Nimrod (profile) says: 

October 6, 2024 at 3:07 pm





We should deport Ego Putz back to South Africa. He fits PERFECTLY there.


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Anonymous Coward says: 

October 6, 2024 at 3:10 pm


						Dark MAGA - how original					


You see Leon jumping up and down on stage with Elmo?
lol, what a couple of ass clowns.


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If Starlink is so important to the government and could save some many lives, maybe the government should seize it via eminent domain.