Governor Blanco asked for help; no one gave it

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On Sunday, August 28, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco surveyed the lay of the land and shot off a letter to the regional director of FEMA, detailing her assessment of the severity of the upcoming hurricane, and asking for help. Apparently, FEMA’s interpretation of the term “major disaster” is somewhat different than the interpretation with which most of us are familiar.

Today, Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut announced that they will open a bipartisan investigation of the “immense failure” of the government to respond to the consequences of Hurricane Katrina. Many of us would feel better if someone other than Collins and Lieberman were involved in an enterprise that will undoubtedly call for getting tough, but it seems we are stuck with them.

We have only to look at the report of the September 11 Commission to know what happens when the government “investigates” itself. Who at FEMA failed to do what and why will most likely never be known, though we may see one or two scapegoats trotted out to be shamed, while the perpetrators of incompetence are awarded medals. We have been here before.

Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, in a piece of weary understatement, said: “There was a time when FEMA understood that the correct approach to a crisis was to deploy to the affected area as many resources as possible as fast as possible. Unfortunately that no longer seems to be their approach.”

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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