I'm shutting down Google+ for the night and quite possibly for the weekend. Why? This stupid #gifwars thing people are so proud of. This Adam Black guy said he doesn't like gifs and now everyone is mass trolling him. Having been mass trolled like this I can relate to him easily enough. Have an opinion and the collective might of Google+'s lower class denizens jump on a bandwagon. I just saw a post where someone wanted to jump on board and had to get clarification she was tagging the proper Adam Black. She wasn't even connected to him ! Nor was she a part of the original discussion. She just wanted to follow the herd. When I called her out of it she claimed, "one gif doesn't make a troll." Perhaps not, but she's contributing to a larger troll effort. One straw doesn't break the camel's back, but thousands will. So, tonight, Google+ disgusts me. It probably will tomorrow as well. And possibly Sunday. I gave up Google+ for two months this spring
Comments
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Sec. 544. (a) For an additional amount for ``Federal Emergency
Management Agency-Federal Assistance'', $41,000,000, to remain
available until September 30, 2018, exclusively for providing
reimbursement of extraordinary law enforcement personnel costs
for protection activities directly and demonstrably associated with any
residence of the President that is designated or identified to be
secured by the United States Secret Service.
(b) Funds under subsection (a) shall be available only for costs
that a State or local agency-
(1) incurs after January 20, 2017, and before October 1,
2017;
(2) can demonstrate to the Administrator as being--
(A) in excess of the costs of normal and typical law
enforcement operations;
(B) directly attributable to the provision of
protection described herein; and
(C) associated with a non-governmental property
designated or identified to be secured by the United
States Secret Service pursuant to section 3 or section 4
of the Presidential Protection Assistance Act of 1976
(Public Law 94-524); and
(3) certifies to the Administrator as being for protection
activities requested by the Director of the United States Secret
Service.
(c) For purposes of subsection (a), a designation or identification
of a property to be secured under subsection (b)(2)(C) made after
incurring otherwise eligible costs shall apply retroactively to January
20, 2017.
(d) The Administrator may establish written criteria consistent with
subsections (a) and (b).
(e) None of the funds provided shall be for hiring new or additional
personnel.
(f) The Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security
shall audit reimbursements made under this section.
congress.gov - Text - H.R.244 - 115th Congress (2017-2018): Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress
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In fact, FEMA has always been an odd beast inside the government—an agency that has existed far from the spotlight except for the occasional high-stakes appearance during moments of critical need. It can disappear from the headlines for years in between a large hurricane or series of tornadoes.
But FEMA’s under-the-radar nature was originally a feature, not a bug. During the past seven decades, the agency has evolved from a top-secret series of bunkers designed to protect US officials in case of a nuclear attack to a sprawling bureaucratic agency tasked with mobilizing help in the midst of disaster.
The transition has not been smooth, to say the least. And to this day, the agency’s weird history can be glimpsed in its strange mix of responsibilities, limitations, and quirks. And then there’s this fun fact: Along the way, FEMA’s forefathers created a legacy that is too often forgotten. Inside those bunkers during the 1970s, the nation’s emergency managers invented the first online chat program—the forerunner to Slack, Facebook Messenger, and AIM, which have together transformed modern life....
FEMA was the result of Jimmy Carter’s efforts to restore some primacy to civil defense planning, bringing it back into the spotlight after years of diminishing budgets. The administration threw its weight behind a congressional effort to reestablish what was then known as the Office of Emergency Preparedness under a new name, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, uniting the nation’s disaster response with its planning for “continuity of government,” the secret programs that were supposed to snap into place in the event of nuclear war.
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wired.com - The Secret History of FEMA | WIRED