Great — now (Speaker of the House) Mike Johnson not only has no backbone, but no (expletive deleted).

He delayed the funding for FEMA and SBA in October, saying it could wait ‘til after Thanksgiving recess, then (U.S. Sen.) Rand Paul screwed us over with his amendment that killed (U.S.) Sen. (Thom) Tillis’ disaster funding bill — and now we get no funding again because of (Donald) Trump, who is not even president. 

Is this how you make America great again — by killing Americans? 

Leaving us without infrastructure and funding? 

You all are playing politics with American lives and American businesses, when we have hundreds dead, bodies still laying in the mud undiscovered, hundreds of miles of broken rail lines causing additional truck traffic and increased food prices (didn’t someone promise he would reduce food costs?), roads and bridges in shambles — and no money to help from our own government.

We need action — not words, not lies, not promises. 

I thought Sen. Tillis and Sen. (Ted) Budd and the other senators and House representatives from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina would actually have influence. 

We mean nothing to the Republican Party — and you all have no clout or power to make a difference.

Thank you, Republicans. This is on you.

Trump tells Hamas to release hostages, but hell is already there

President-elect Donald Trump has declared that “there will be hell to pay” if hostages in Gaza are not released prior to his taking office on Jan. 20.

But Gaza has already been largely reduced to dust and rubble. This includes the destruction of fields, orchards, greenhouses, water infrastructure, hospitals, bakeries, public utilities, roads, schools, universities and religious and government buildings.

Over 45,000 people have been killed, including over 14,500 children.  

Another 20,00 children are missing — lost to their families, detained or buried beneath the rubble or in unmarked mass graves.  

And Gaza has the largest number of child amputees in modern history.

The United Nations estimates that clearing the debris in Gaza could take as long as 15 years, and that it could take until at least 2040 to rebuild destroyed homes.

According to architectural history professor Mark Jarzombek, who studied post World War II reconstruction, “No matter what one does, for generations, Gaza will be struggling with this.”    

And as economist Dan Egel asserts, “You can rebuild a building, but how do you rebuild the lives of a million children?”

Note to Donald Trump: Hell has already been rendered.