Tangle - FEMA funding and the disaster response.

Episode Date: October 15, 2024

Last Wednesday, Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm, knocking out power to 3.2 million people and killing at least eight. Two weeks earlier, Hurricane Helene ravaged the Southeast, killing more than 250 people and resulting in widespread devastation. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which coordinates the federal response to disasters that exceed the capabilities of local and state authorities, has become the target of criticism for its response to these storms — particularly from conservative commentators — pertaining to how it allocates resources, its responsiveness, and its funding. Ad-free podcasts are here!Many listeners have been asking for an ad-free version of this podcast that they could subscribe to — and we finally launched it. You can go to tanglemedia.supercast.com to sign up!You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the Radar” story ⁠here and today’s “Have a nice day” story ⁠here⁠.Check out our latest YouTube video on misinformation about North Carolina here.Check out Episode 6 of our podcast series, The Undecideds. You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. Our podcast is written by Isaac Saul and edited and engineered by Jon Lall. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75. Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Will Kaback, Bailey Saul, Sean Brady, and produced in conjunction with Tangle’s social media manager Magdalena Bokowa, who also created our logo. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Working in the trades is intense. It can be stressful and painful. Some guys use drugs and alcohol to cope. But when we ask for help, or we see someone struggling with addiction... Our silence speaks volumes. See how you can help, or get help, at Canada.ca slash ease the burden. A message from the Government of Canada. Based on Charles Yu's award-winning book, Interior Chinatown follows the story of Willis Wu,

a background character trapped in a police procedural who dreams about a world beyond Chinatown. When he inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web, his family's buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight. Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+.

From Searchlight Pictures comes A Real Pain, one of the most moving and funny films of the year. Written and directed by Oscar-nominated Jesse Eisenberg and starring Eisenberg and Emmy Award winner Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain is a comedy about mismatched cousins who reunite for a tour through Poland Thank you. this year, garnering rave reviews and acclaim from both critics and audiences alike. See A Real Pain only in theaters November 15th. From executive producer Isaac Saul, this is Tangle. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, and welcome to the Tangle Podcast, the place we get views from across the political spectrum, some independent thinking,

and a little bit of my take. I'm your host, Isaac Saul, and on today's episode, we're going to be talking about a debate around FEMA funding and specifically what's happened before, during, and after Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and across the Southeast. Obviously, we covered this story a couple weeks ago, but I think it's really important to keep our focus here as the relief effort is underway. We're witnessing it happen, and there's now a bit of a funding conversation and a FEMA conversation. Where should we be spending our money? What should we be underway. We're witnessing it happen. And there's now a bit of a, you know, funding conversation and a FEMA conversation. Where should we be spending our money? What should we be doing with it? Is FEMA in need of more funding? Where are they already spending their money? All that good stuff. So I love this piece. I love this podcast today because it's policy focused. It's tied to

some of the information ecosystem stuff that I really care about. It's election season, so federal response in situations like this is relevant. And I think it's a really interesting story and one that's important to tell in as accurate of a way as possible. And we're going to do that. Before we jump in, though, I have two plugs. First of all, mark your calendars. We are throwing an election watch party in Philly and we will be live streaming throughout the night. This is the first time we've ever done this in 2020 during the last election. We were much smaller as a team and a unit. And yeah, I was basically doing Instagram lives by myself with Magdalena helping, and I was tweeting stuff out and tracking all

these election fraud claims. And I was flying solo, but I've got a team now. And so we're going to try and do a big and bring you guys some unique, good coverage. If you're in the Philly area, or if you're as far away as DC or New York or New Jersey, or if you're in California, and you just want to come to Philadelphia and you're looking for an excuse, I don't really care. We have a watch party that's going to be happening and I think it's going to be really cool. It's in my office in the headquarters, Tangle HQ, which is a shared office space

and the owners of the building, one of them is a Tangle fan. He also owns some bars in South Philly. He's volunteered to give us a keg for the night and he's helping sponsor the event with alcohol. I'm going to get some food. We're going to have some games. The whole Tangle team is going to be here and we're going to do some live streams and interviews and stuff like that throughout the night. I think it's going to be pretty fun. So if you're interested in that, if you're in the

Philly area, if you're somehow local, or if you might be in Philly that week, or you want to come out here, get your tickets. There are 100 tickets. We have to cap this event because of the space limitations. So we're only selling 100 tickets. 65 of them are already gone. So there's 35 spots left. If you want to get a ticket in RSVP, you can do that with a link in today's episode description. And if you are a friend listening to this and you want to come, be sure to hit me up, shoot me a text, write me an email so I can try and accommodate you in case the tickets sell out. But we're going to do our best to get everybody there who possibly can. All right, with that out of the way, I also want to mention that we have

related to today's main issue a really fantastic reader essay that came out in the Sunday edition of the Tangle newsletter this week. It is from a guy named Finley Gold, who wrote a story about his experience as a radio operator in North Carolina during Hurricane Helene. It's fascinating, I thought helpful, thoughtful, balanced, nuanced. It's worth reading, it's worth checking out.

We link to it in today's newsletter. I'm not referencing it explicitly in our take and our coverage, though it didn't form some of what we discussed today. So with that, I'm going to pass it over to John for the main pod, and I'll be back for my take. Thank you, Isaac, and welcome, everybody. Hope you all had a great weekend. Here are your quick hits for today. First up, law enforcement arrested a man outside of former President Donald Trump's rally in California on Saturday on state gun charges. Federal authorities are investigating the incident

but have not filed any charges nor found any evidence that he was planning to kill President Trump. Number two, the Pentagon announced that the United States will send an advanced missile defense system and a crew of U.S. troops to Israel to support air defenses in anticipation of attacks from Iran. 3. China flew a record number of fighter jets and other warplanes around Taiwan during a military drill on Monday, a few days after Taiwan's new president, Lai Ching-te, promised to protect the island's sovereignty in a speech. Teh, promised to protect the island's sovereignty in a speech. Number four, the Kremlin said former President Donald Trump sent COVID-19 testing devices to Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2020, confirming a report by journalist Bob Woodward. And number five, Boeing plans to lay off 10% of its 170,000 employees in the coming months following a poor financial report for Q3 and an ongoing machinist strike.

It's going to take time to calculate the costs of the damage left behind by Hurricane Milton and then Helene before that. And while FEMA says it has enough money for immediate response and recovery needs, there's still more than a month of hurricane season left, and there are other storms that are already brewing. Right now, the National Hurricane Center is tracking four more storm systems in the Atlantic. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said today the agency's disaster relief fund is down to $11 billion after it spent about $9 billion on its response to Hurricane Helene. I'm going to have to evaluate how quickly we're burning the remaining dollars within the disaster relief fund to see if I'm going to have to go back in and ask for additional funding sooner than what Congress is putting on right now. Congress appropriated $20 billion additional dollars to FEMA so that they would have the necessary resources to address immediate needs.

And so we put that into the coffers. I just checked, Margaret, as of this morning, less than 2% of that funding has actually been distributed, right around 2% of it. So we need FEMA to do its job. Last Wednesday, Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm, knocking out power to 3.2 million people and killing at least eight. Two weeks earlier, Hurricane Helene ravaged the southeast, killing more than 250 people and resulting in widespread devastation. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA,

which coordinates the federal response to disasters that exceed the capabilities of local and state authorities, has become the target of criticism for its response to these storms, particularly from conservative commentators pertaining to how it allocates resources, its responsiveness, and its funding. On October 2nd, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said FEMA did not have the budget to make it through the rest of this year's hurricane season. While Congress passed a short-term spending bill in September that included $20 billion for FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund, other FEMA programs that reimburse state and local governments for the cost of debris cleanup, first responders, and other needs are quickly running out of money. needs are quickly running out of money. So far, FEMA has approved $441 million in federal disaster assistance for Hurricane Helene survivors and over $340 million in public assistance funding.

Amid the concerns over FEMA's funding, many Republican politicians, including former President Donald Trump and prominent social media accounts, have suggested that mismanaged priorities have compromised the agency's ability to respond to disasters. One of the most common claims is that FEMA is running out of money partially because some of its funds are allocated to services for unauthorized migrants. This criticism centers on FEMA's Shelter and Services Program, which reimburses state and local governments and nonprofits that provide short-term shelters for migrants released by Border Patrol. The program received $650 million from Congress in fiscal year 2024. FEMA's disaster relief fund is appropriated separately, receiving more than

$20 billion in fiscal year 2024 from the Further Considered Appropriations Act and $15.5 billion from the Continuing Appropriations Act. Earlier this month, House Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged that Congress funds these programs separately, but some Republicans, such as Senator Tom Cotton, have suggested that FEMA could use its transfer authority to move any remaining shelter and service funds to disaster relief, though the agency has already awarded all of the program's grant money as of August. FEMA also has a Serious Needs Assistance Program that offers $750 per household to survivors of disasters to pay for emergency supplies. Some conservative commentators have suggested that this $750 is the only assistance survivors will receive from the federal government. FEMA, though, has stated that

the Serious Needs Assistance Program is just one of several programs offering aid to disaster survivors. Disaster victims can apply for FEMA's Individual Assistance Program, which provides financial payments to eligible individuals and households, as well as financial assistance towards temporary housing. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, 63 House Democrats signed a letter to Speaker Johnson, urging him to call Congress back into session to pass additional funding for the response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Johnson thus far has rebuffed the requests, saying the federal government has the resources

right now to address the immediate needs. Today, we'll explore the arguments from the left and the right about FEMA's funding and disaster response efforts, and then Isaac's take. We'll be right back after this quick break. That's salt, not sugar. Let's get you another coffee. Feeling distracted? You're not alone. Many Canadians are finding it hard to focus with mortgage payments on their minds. If you're struggling with your payments, speak to your bank. The earlier they understand your situation, the more options and relief measures could be available to you. Learn more at Canada.ca slash it pays to know.

A message from the Government of Canada. From Searchlight Pictures comes A Real Pain, Government of Canada. through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the pair's old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history. A Real Pain was one of the buzziest titles at Sundance Film Festival this year, garnering rave reviews and acclaim from both critics and audiences alike. See A Real Pain only in theaters November 15th. All right, first let's start with what the left is saying. The left criticizes Trump and Republicans for spreading false information about FEMA. Some say lies about the agency have hurt hurricane victims the most. Others say these false narratives distract from areas where FEMA needs to improve.

The Washington Post editorial board said, Storm storms veering inland and rampant misinformation are testing federal disaster response systems. As the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Guard, and other aid organizations navigate downed trees and mud-choked roads to reach affected residents, they face yet another challenge, rampant misinformation, the board wrote. Because it plowed through two swing states just over a month before Election Day, politicians were bound to pay extra attention to this disaster. Both presidential candidates rerouted their campaign trails to visit Georgia and North Carolina.

This is par for the course in a democracy. What is neither normal nor acceptable is for former President Donald Trump to exploit the situation with inflammatory falsehoods. He claimed that his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, diverted FEMA funding to house illegal immigrants, and he accused North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, also a Democrat, of withholding aid from Republican-leaning counties. Misinformation about FEMA's actions has become so widespread that the agency created a webpage dedicated to rumor response. The agency should not have to spend scarce resources dispelling misinformation

spread in part by someone running for our highest office. In Bloomberg, Barbara L. McQuaid argued Trump's lies about FEMA only hurt hurricane victims. I know from my prior work as a prosecutor that emergencies almost always bring out scam artists hoping to defraud people desperate for help. But the current brand of disinformation is different from the usual con jobs. This new breed of disaster disinformation appears to be motivated by politics, McQuaid said. Shortly after the storm, presidential candidate Donald Trump told rally goers in Michigan that the Biden administration stole the FEMA money, just like they stole it from a bank, so they could give it to their illegal immigrants that they want to have vote for them this season. This is not true, and undocumented immigrants can't vote. Yet these

claims have been amplified on social media by billionaire Elon Musk, Trump's son Donald Trump Jr., and former Trump advisor Stephen Miller. While the claims are false, the harm is real. False claims create confusion for people in need of relief. Victims who believe the funds are limited to only $750 may not even bother to file a claim. Americans who did not even suffer loss from the hurricane may lose confidence in the government's ability to respond to a natural disaster, putting pressure on Congress to reduce appropriations for relief. And FEMA itself must expend resources debunking false claims instead of attending to its relief missions. In MSNBC, Hayes Brown wrote, FEMA has real problems. Trump's lies are making things harder. While FEMA has been rightly criticized for years as ineffective, slow, and overly bureaucratic,

the lies that the Republicans are pushing are different, Brown said. Among the many lies that are being told, that FEMA will run out of money before the end of the year because it gave that money to migrants, that the Biden administration is only giving out a few hundred dollars in aid to people in total, that aid in North Carolina is being denied so the federal government can steal that land for mining lithium. There are twisted facts undergirding some of those myths, but none are intended to increase assistance to the people affected. Even as FEMA's resources have increased, they've also been stretched to thin as catastrophic events pile up. Unfortunately, the agency's handling of those Vermont floods left survivors frustrated and without critical

resources, Brown wrote. The good news is that FEMA put new rules in place this year to lower the hurdles for receiving disaster relief. That includes immediate cash for individuals' emergency expenses and making it easier to help people whose insurance doesn't fully cover those losses. But again, you wouldn't know it from the lies being told by Trump and the other right-wing agitators. All right, that is it for what the left is saying, which brings us to what the right is saying. The right argues FEMA should not be funding migrant services under any circumstances. Some say the agency's shortcomings have been on full display throughout the response to Helene

and Milton. Others criticized the Biden administration for how it has managed FEMA. The Boston Herald editorial board said FEMA funds are for emergencies, not bad policies. FEMA is there in emergencies and disasters like the recent flooding in Vermont, for which FEMA assistance was announced late last month. It was also there for the severe winter storm that hit Massachusetts in 2022, the board wrote. It's also there apparently to give money to non-federal entities, as the FEMA website says, to provide humanitarian services to non-citizen migrants following their release from the Department of Homeland Security. Hurricane force winds didn't sweep millions

of illegal immigrants across our southern border under Biden's watch. The president's open border policies did that. And yet FEMA funds are being used to support the consequences of his actions, the board said. We should never be in a situation where FEMA funds are insufficient during hurricane season or any season given the natural disasters that have grabbed recent headlines. What is particularly baffling is that the administration is so invested in mitigating climate change. Shouldn't Biden and company make sure FEMA funds are shored up as climate change driven weather patterns worsen and states are more vulnerable? In USA Today, Nicole Russell wrote, Helene exposed FEMA's weaknesses. The Federal Emergency Management Agency exists to help in such emergencies. While there's been much political back and forth about the agency's effectiveness in

the wake of Helene, and not a small amount of misinformation, it is reasonable for citizens to question how well their government is delivering on its promises, Russell said. Biden-Harris administration officials said they were sparing no resource to help those affected by the storm. Yet families are still transporting clean water in five-gallon containers and milk jugs 13 days after the storm came ashore in Florida. In their defense, FEMA administrators say they have provided more than $137 million in assistance to six states, including 15 million meals, 14 million liters of water, and 157 generators as of Sunday, Russell wrote. But with the massive needs that remain in North Carolina, it's fair to ask whether

FEMA is up to the job of easing the suffering of millions of Americans. Our fellow citizens should not go without water, food, electricity, or cell service day after day. We must expect more from our government and more for our neighbors. In the Wall Street Journal, Senator J.D. Vance criticized the shift in FEMA's priorities during the Biden administration. Federal Emergency Management Agency staff are working hard. The agency's response to Helene has been praised in some quarters and criticized in others, but it too has been the victim of misplaced Biden-Harris political priorities, Vance said. Under Ms. Harris and Mr. Biden, FEMA has funneled millions of dollars to non-governmental organizations whose stated goal is facilitating mass migration into the U.S. The effort stems

from a White House directive to reorient FEMA's institutional focus away from U.S. citizens and towards aliens who have no legal right to be here and whose legal status depends on the say-so of the Biden-Harris administration. Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris have been sending that message since the beginning of their tenure. In 2021, Mr. Mayorkas directed FEMA to participate in a government-wide effort to receive and shelter migrants, Vance wrote. FEMA even seems to be picking winners and losers among the American people. In March 2023, FEMA hosted a panel titled Helping the LGBTQI Plus Community Before Disasters, Preparedness and Mitigation Considerations. Ordinary Americans of all

backgrounds know that especially when it comes to disaster relief, federal agencies exist to serve all Americans, not to give some groups special treatment. All right, let's head over to Isaac for his take. All right, that is it for what the left and the right are saying, which brings us to my take. with the left and the right are saying, which brings us to my take. So one of the difficulties in this discussion is how few people seem capable or willing to hold a few things in their minds at once. Inspired by that realization, let me try my best to speak to the points that feel worth ruminating on here. First, lies were and are being spread online about FEMA and the federal emergency response in North Carolina.

I wrote an entire newsletter about this a couple weeks ago. We did a whole podcast on it. I did a YouTube video about it. But I certainly wasn't the only one frustrated by this. Kevin Corbin, a Republican member of North Carolina's state senate, was pleading with people online to stop spreading lies about FEMA. He did this in a Facebook post, talking about all the conspiracy theory junk floating all over Facebook and the internet about FEMA stealing money from donations or body bags ordered, but the government has denied it

or bodies not being buried or all of this being about lithium in Western North Carolina and on and on and on. He wasn't the only one. Representative Chuck Edwards, a Republican from North Carolina who also represents one of the most impacted areas in North Carolina, issued an entire

press release where he debunked Helene response myths. It included, among many other things, that FEMA is not diverting disaster funds to the border, that it's not halting relief efforts, that it isn't imminently running out of money. Edwards also tried to knock down a lie being spread by former President Trump and his allies that the Biden administration was only offering $750 in assistance to survivors. That is the immediate upfront cash people can get from serious needs assistance, which is a very specific and narrow kind of assistance, but much larger and longer-term financial assistance has already been made available. The misinformation has gone both ways, too. but much larger and longer-term financial assistance has already been made available.

The misinformation has gone both ways, too. Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported on an email from a U.S. Forest Service official warning about armed militias in North Carolina hunting FEMA. This sparked a wave of claims and headlines that armed militias inspired by misinformation were blocking or actively threatening FEMA workers all across North Carolina. It turned out that the threat was basically entirely exaggerated, if not totally made up or misunderstood. One single armed person was arrested for threatening a FEMA official, and that person has been put into custody. These falsehoods about the hurricane response, they're coming predominantly from influential conservatives. I want to be careful not to dismiss worthwhile points from the right about FEMA while debunking these lies. For instance, FEMA's budget is constricted, and Alejandro Mayorkas did say we were running out of money.

FEMA did give hundreds of millions of dollars to programs supporting migrants, including some immigrants here illegally. If you are reading about these programs from North Carolina while federal aid is struggling to get to you, I understand why you would be distraught. However, while it is true that FEMA has a program to support services for migrants, that money is not remotely relevant to any funding issues or disaster relief efforts more broadly. Conservative economist Brian Riedel has been all over this story, pointing out that the $640 million allocated to FEMA for its shelter and services program is.009405% of the federal budget, or as he called it, quote unquote, budget dust. Questioning that line item is totally fair, but when you do so, you should keep that total in perspective. It isn't hard to find recent examples of Congress passing single disaster relief bills for over $35 billion. Perhaps most importantly, the $640 million that went from FEMA

to migrants came from a totally separate funding process than the one to approve disaster relief aid. Congress specifically allocated those funds in 2022 to address the migrant crisis. Ironically, by the way, back in 2019, President Trump actually did take $155 million of disaster relief funds to support immigration detention centers along the border. So you can do what you will with that information. Shortly after Hurricane Helene hit, I criticized the flood of misinformation on social media, but I also made the broader point that it was just too early to criticize the government's response. As I said then, local groups and state groups are always the first one on the scene, and it would take time to analyze FEMA's response. After a couple of weeks, we've now grasped the scope and the disaster and how

many people are still struggling to get assistance. I think there are two ways to think about this. how many people are still struggling to get assistance. I think there are two ways to think about this. One, the federal government is failing. North Carolinians have gone two weeks without potable water or electricity, and there is no excuse for why it's taken so long to restore basic services. The amount of active duty military mobilized to assist in the aftermath was anemically low when compared to the response to Hurricane Katrina, a disaster response so inadequate that it permanently tarnished the reputation of a sitting president. Or, two, Helene is a particularly devastating and challenging disaster. FEMA has already spent hundreds of millions of dollars in the first few weeks responding to this hurricane, which impacted an incredibly broad region across six states. It has provided millions of meals and millions of

gallons of drinking water. To make matters worse, Milton-hit Florida Wahine recovery efforts were still ongoing. The destructiveness and breadth of these storms was just too much for any federal agency to handle within a few weeks. I'm not suggesting one of these lenses is more correct than the other, or that they can't coexist. I've heard firsthand accounts from people on the ground saying they are in areas receiving robust federal response and firsthand accounts from people on the ground saying they feel totally deserted and on their own. One Tangled critic sent me this Twitter thread explaining how difficult and frustrating

accessing that assistance can be for people on the ground. The person said, quote, imagine how mad you'd be if you lived on the opposite side of a washed out bridge and the people you pay taxes to said we can help, The person said, quote, So, what do we have in the way of solutions? Well, it seems like everyone now agrees FEMA should have robust enough funding to respond to disasters more thoroughly. I'm on board for that. I think organizing massive relief and recovery efforts is one of the things the federal government is well positioned to do. It also might be a good time to focus more seriously on how and where we

build. I'm very much in favor of removing housing restrictions, but there are a lot of lessons to glean from what North Carolina lawmakers failed to do. We should also consider eliminating subsidies for homes and areas vulnerable to this kind of devastation. As we're witnessing now, we pay for these decisions collectively as a country, not just at the personal or local level, and we should respond to the threat of these severe storms holistically, too. So let's keep our eyes on the FEMA response. Let's keep our attention on communities still struggling. Let's support legislators who fund the response and recovery efforts. And let's act now while the issue is hot to help mitigate the destructiveness of these disasters in the future. We'll be right back after this quick break.

Working in the trades is intense. It can be stressful and painful. Some guys use drugs and alcohol to cope. But when we ask for help, or we see someone struggling with addiction... Our silence speaks volumes. See how you can help, or get help, at Canada.ca slash ease the burden. A message from the Government of Canada. From Searchlight Pictures comes A Real Pain, one of the most moving and funny films of the year.

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All right, that is it for my take. As always, if you have thoughts, criticisms, feedback, you can reach us by writing to staff, S-T-A-F-F, at readtangle.com. That ensures your email gets read, including by me, but also by the rest of our team who flag reader feedback and discuss how to respond and incorporate it into our coverage. All right, next up is your questions answered. This one is from Ryan in London, England. Hello, London. Thanks for writing in, Ryan. Ryan said, I support very tight regulation and limitation of AI automation within the art and entertainment industries. But for most everything else, I only support regulations so as to keep guardrails in place. And I'm much more in favor

of pushing advancements. With regards to how much automation should be integrated, do you draw a similar distinction? Okay, so thanks for this question. I think this is a really interesting topic in a lot of ways, and when I wrote about why I didn't support dock workers striking to prevent automation from entering their industry, I mentioned that I did support something like voice actors striking against automation being used in theirs. But honestly, this isn't really a categorical thing for me. I agree that artificial intelligence as it exists right now isn't able to replace that human element in the creative process, but I don't think we need strikes or laws to prevent that from happening. The lesser product will probably just lose over time. In these cases, the difference is between work that's already done

by someone being repackaged and taken by automation and work that can be additive to the process. For voice actors, if the industry wants to use AI to help edit what they record or inspire the recording process in some way, I say more power to them. But during their strike, voice actors were upset about their voices being regenerated by artificial intelligence, effectively using their likeness without permission or compensation,

or taking work that they or other voice actors could have received. Making a direct analogy to the dock workers is tough, but that would be akin to somebody unloading a ship for two hours and then an AI-operated crane restacking their boxes and preventing the worker from getting paid. an AI-operated crane restacking their boxes and preventing the worker from getting paid. All right, that is it for your questions answered and my take. I'm going to send it back to John for the rest of the pod, and I'll see you guys tomorrow. Have a good one. Thanks, Isaac. Here's your under-the-radar story for today, folks. Gallup's latest survey on confidence in U.S. institutions found that Americans' trust in media remains at record lows. For the third consecutive year, more U.S. adults have no trust in the media than trusted a great deal or a fair amount.

Americans' confidence in mass media began to decline around 1997, but has dropped precipitously in recent years. Between 2018 and 2024, the percentage who say that they trust the media fell from 45% to 31%. Furthermore, younger Americans have less faith in the media than older generations, with just 26% in the 18-29 age group expressing trust in mass media, compared to 43% in the 65-plus cohort. Overall, local and state governments and the American people as a whole are the only major institutions or entities garnering trust from more than half of U.S. adults. Gallup has this story and there's a link in today's episode description.

All right, next up is our numbers section. The approximate amount of aid approved by FEMA for Hurricanes Helene and Milton recovery efforts as of October 14th is $860 million. Of that money, the amount approved for individual and community aid is $507 million. The amount of housing aid and other types of assistance approved by FEMA in North Carolina is $96 million. The amount of housing aid and other types of assistance approved by FEMA in Florida is $177.6 million. The percentage of registered voters who say they have been satisfied with FEMA's response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton is 58%, according to an October 2024 Harvard-Capps-Harris poll. The percentage of registered voters who think former President Donald Trump was lying about the performance of the government in response to the hurricanes is 49%. The percentage of registered voters who think

Vice President Kamala Harris was playing politics in her response to the hurricanes is 50%. And the percentage of registered voters who do not think FEMA should have allocated any money to housing unauthorized migrants is 67%. And last but not least, our Have a Nice Day story. Since 1972, pandas have drawn millions of visitors to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. The last two pandas left the zoo at the end of 2023, but a new partnership with the China Wildlife Conservation Association will introduce pandas to the zoo by the end of this year. Wildlife Conservation Association will introduce pandas to the zoo by the end of this year. The giant panda conservation program is seeking $25 million in funding,

$10 million of which was recently pledged by the billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein. WTOP has this story and there's a link in today's episode description. All right, everybody, that is it for today's episode. As always, if you'd like to support our work, please go to readtangle.com and sign up for a membership. Don't forget, we now have a premium podcast membership, which includes ad-free daily podcasts, Friday editions, Sunday podcasts,

bonus content, and much more. And as Isaac mentioned at the top, we're going to be having an election night party. So if you can make it out to Philly, we'd love to see you there. We'll be right back here tomorrow. For Isaac and the rest of the crew, this is John Law signing off. Have a great day, y'all. Peace. Our podcast is written by me, Isaac Saul, and edited and engineered by John Wall. The script is edited by our managing editor, Ari Weitzman, Will Kedak, Bailey Saul, and Sean Brady. The logo for our podcast was designed by Magdalena Bokova, who is also our social media manager.

Music for the podcast was produced by Diet75. And if you're looking for more from Tangle, please go to readtangle.com and check out our website.