Sixteen Blue States Are Still Being Prevented From Accessing FEMA Funds Previously Awarded By Congressional Acts, And Earlier Administrations...

So, in the Rhode Island federal courthouse, the plaintiff states have -- for a second time in seven elapsed days, been forced to move -- and have moved -- to enforce the able USDC Judge John McConnell, Jr.'s order enjoining Tangerine 2.0 from "impounding" these funds.

Here's that full 13 page motion, and a bit of it quoted in blue, below. This is. . . despicable. You'll note that this blockade only still exists in the states that went for Kamala Harris (or, in the case of Arizona and Wisconsin, Mr. Biden the cycle prior -- 2020). Damnation:

. . .Since the Court’s February 10 order, Plaintiff States have worked diligently with counsel for Defendants to address compliance issues with the Court’s orders, including providing counsel with lists of awards spanning multiple agencies that remained inaccessible even after the Court’s orders. See Correspondence between Kate Sabatini and Daniel Schwei, attached as Exhibit D to the Affirmation of Theodore McCombs (“McCombs Aff.”). As a result of Plaintiff States’ efforts, many funds frozen as of the Court’s February 10 order have now been made available. Id.

Nevertheless, the parties have reached an impasse as to millions of dollars of FEMA funds that have been awarded and obligated but have remained inaccessible to Plaintiff States -- some for almost three weeks. As of February 28, 2025, at least 140 FEMA grants from at least twenty different FEMA grant programs have been frozen or otherwise rendered inaccessible in sixteen Plaintiff States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. Funds have been reported frozen as early as February 7, with an increasing number of grants reported frozen during the weeks of February 17 and 24. In several cases, the freezes apply to multiple grants in the same grant programs spanning several fiscal years. . . .

What we see, from this Mal-administration, is a form of patrimonialism. . . of the sort not seen in nearly a century in Europe -- and not since before the Civil War, here. It does persist to today, in both China and Russia. You, gentle reader -- are free to decide whether you like the Seventeenth Century better than the Twenty-First.

I do know where I come out on it, though. So I will keep on. . . resisting -- and filing suits. Onward.

नमस्ते