Pic Of The Moment: Trump To Fiddle While America Burns

[EarlG]

Trump takes aim at firefighting jobs with largest federal cut in a decade

Flashback: 'Make America Rake Again': Confusion in Finland over Trump's wildfire comments

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[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. "Let them buy rakes" says Don Antoinette tRump as the snare drums beat louder in the distance. . .nt

[keithbvadu2]

3. There are no forest fires near Trump Tower.

[Initech]

4. Just throw some Paper Towel brand paper towels on it!

Paper Towel: The clean up method of choice for disaster areas when you simply don't give a fuck!

[calimary]

5. Well, why should he care?

Throwing paper towel rolls at the Puerto Ricans.

I suspect he thought he was trying to “help The Help.” After all, I suspect he assumed - “hey, my cleaning crews come from here. I’ll toss ‘em some free paper towels! Isn’t that so wonderful and generous of me? See what a good overlord I am?!”

[Saviolo]

6. I'll bet some money exchanged hands with the for-profit prison industry.

They'll be able to send more prisoners in to fight wildfires as the for-profit prisons make some plum government contracts to fight the wildfires with prisoners who will be paid a pittance to put their lives at risk. Not like it's a new thing:

https://www.vox.com/2018/8/9/17670494/california-prison-labor-mendocino-carr-ferguson-wildfires

California is using prison labor to fight its record wildfires

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) recently boasted about the use of prison labor for firefighting on Twitter: “Today, more than 2,000 volunteer inmate firefighters, including 58 youth offenders, are battling wildfire flames throughout CA. Inmate firefighters serve a vital role, clearing thick brush down to bare soil to stop the fire’s spread.”

The tweet drew some surprise and protest. (The first response as of Thursday morning was, “Wait. What?”)

But California’s use of prison labor to fight wildfires is far from new. As Annika Neklason reported for the Atlantic, the program goes back to World War II:

Inmates have been fighting California’s wildfires since the 1940s, when the state first called up prisoners to replace men assisting the war effort. More than 3,700 men and women—and even some juvenile offenders—now voluntarily serve on the force. Collectively, they make up roughly a third of the state’s wildfire-fighting personnel, and work an average of 10 million hours each year responding to fires and other emergencies and handling community-service projects like park maintenance, reforestation, and fire and flood protection.

[jmbar2]

7. I was a volunteer tutor at my local Job Corps

It offered a transitional experience for young adults who were mostly not college material to get exposure to sustainable jobs, union apprenticeships, and self-employment skills, as well as quasi-military self-discipline.

They took the lost souls who did not have the knowledge yet to be adults, and finished raising them with skills, self-confidence, and habits that any employer would value. They transform many lives.

It is a crying shame to defund this program!

[IronLionZion]

8. Does he think it's only liberals out west?

Asshole

[dalton99a]

9. .