Without pontificating that if residents had just opened the windows like they do in Finland to let the breeze through, or if they would have nuked it, there wouldn’t have been so much damage (as his predecessor would have), President Joe Biden on Sunday declared four counties in Mississippi major disaster areas after tornadoes ripped through them and areas of Alabama, killing 26.
Because the order didn’t mandate political favors, fealty or worship, Biden’s declaration will open up the region to millions of dollars in federal aid to residents, organizations and local government agencies to assist the thousands of people and businesses impacted by the storms as well as providing FEMA coordination among various agencies. Republicans will likely approve disaster aid to Mississippi, an ill-prepared Republican-dominated state, without much hemming and hawing about deficits and waste and drag queens story times, their pattern when natural disasters impact traditionally-Democratic states, when they make demands on cutting unrelated programs like food assistance to children to agree to help Americans in need.