Posted on 08/27/2023 11:37:15 AM PDT by John Semmens
As more evidence emerges from the Maui fire disaster, it is becoming clearer that government officials made a bad situation worse. Not only was the supply of firefighting water delayed by five hours due to bureaucratic dithering and the sound of warning sirens nixed by quibbling over whether it would be appropriate to do so, now it appears that police blockaded cars from driving to safety. Those who obeyed the police officers enforcing the blockade died. Those who disobeyed and drove or walked past the barricades survived.
Maui Police Chief John Pelletier defended the blockade, saying "I thought it was important to prevent panic. No one knew in which direction safety might be found. By preventing a headlong rush in whichever direction each individual driver might choose, we were trying to figure out the best route to save all of them. Unfortunately, the fire moved faster than we anticipated and more died. Bad as things turned out, I am pleased to report that thanks to this state's strict gun control laws, no one, to our knowledge, was shot during the conflagration."
Sadly, the Maui fire wasn't the only mass casualty event in which Pelletier played a role. He was also the incident commander when 58 people were killed by a lone gunman firing from a high-rise hotel room into an open-air concert in Las Vegas in 2017--a tragedy Pelletier attributed to "lax local gun laws." As for the Maui scofflaws who survived, he sternly warned that "there is no lesson to be learned from such outrageous behavior. It may have worked this time, but in my opinion, disregarding police orders usually leads to a bad outcome."
In the aftermath of the fire, Justin Knighton, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director of External Affairs, asked that images of the devastation not be posted by individuals working on disaster relief "due to the negative effect this could have on local morale and confidence in the Maui authorities. Admittedly, mistakes were made, but at this point, that's all water under the bridge. Now's the time for everyone to pull together and help with the clean up."
FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell tried to calm Maui residents by reassuring them that "President Biden and I have been in close communication throughout the entire disaster response." Nick Sortor, a local citizen journalist, observed that "the 'close communication' hasn't resulted in much FEMA assistance. Everything I'm seeing is being done by local volunteers and non-profit agencies."
If you missed any of the other Semi-News/Semi-Satire posts you can find them at...
https://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,510652.0.html
The disobedient also survived the Plannedemic.
There seems to be a theme here about people and their governments.
Once again the progressive state utterly fails to protect its citizenry.
“The disobedient also survived the Plannedemic.”
Great point.
The same can be said about the people in the world trade center building that collapsed 2nd. I understand a notification went off in the building telling everyone to stay put. The ones who ignored that notice lived. The others did not.
Lesson learned about dealing with government.
Only the fools who vote Democrat expect the state will.keep them safe, and when it doesn’t they learn nothing and vote Democrat again the next election. Nothing is dumber than a Democrat voter.
I can’t find the parody/satire here...
Well done!
“…panic. No one knew in which direction safety might be found.“
Putting aside the absolute absurdity of people threatened with being burned alive by a roaring sixty mph holocaust not understanding which way to run, why would the Chief direct anyone to go anywhere in particular if HE didn’t know?
Because he is a fool who thinks ordering people around is his privilege as a public authority.
As you point out, if he doesn’t know in which direction safety lies how can he justify stopping others from leaving the city that’s on fire?
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