By Susan Eilenberg
Gone are spires that once marked Rome’s skyline. Neighborhoods were devastated; businesses and landmarks were damaged beyond repair. But a community is people, not buildings.
Romans continue to demonstrate who and what we are. Putting aside all our differences, we’re working together to help and support those who still suffer from the storm. It’s a marvel to see. Additionally, James Meyers and Paula Collins, candidates for NYS Senate and U. S. Congress respectively, put on gloves and worked alongside other volunteers. However, as tornados continue to pop up all over the state, the landscape of our future is ominous.
It’s ironic that these storms are occurring during a particularly divisive and polarizing time, when a major presidential candidate dismisses climate change as a hoax. Our country is predicted to experience more frequent and severe weather. Will there be sufficient, if any, federal aid available for affected communities? Republicans apparently aren’t too concerned, or they would acknowledge what we are facing.
Project 2025, a blueprint for taking away our freedoms and replacing our democracy with authoritarianism, has plans to gut NOAA, the agency we need to warn of these impending storms, and FEMA, the agency we count on for aid after a brutal and deadly storm would be folded into the Department of the Interior where it’ll have low priority and die a slow death.
We deserve safety and protection from our government, not denial of reality and rejection of aid. Our votes in November will determine which we get.
